


Finders Keepers

by allhailthefirehawk



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Axton is his own wingman, Developing Relationship, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lots of drama, Making Out, Sassy Axton, Spoilers for Borderlands 2, Teasing is a sign of affection, This fanfiction escalated a bit in length, and a little bit of feels, barnights, this ship wrecks me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-31
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-11 10:13:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 46,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7044217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allhailthefirehawk/pseuds/allhailthefirehawk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a tragic milestone in their journey, the Vault hunters find themselves confronted with the bitter consequences of a war they are seeming to lose. And what's the best thing to do in such situations? Ding! Bar nights. During a casual night of drinks and chatting Maya and Axton discover feelings for each other that had been overshadowed so far, and it doesn't stop there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LieutenantLoot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieutenantLoot/gifts).



> It began as a oneshot and ended as a 79 pages-document. I deeply pity my friend who had to go through all of this and read every single chapter; counting myself lucky she's still talking to me. This is my first full fanfiction and it's not beta-d, so it comes with a nice who-finds-the-best-spelling-mistake-gimmick.  
> We've fallen way too far past all excuses into the abyss of this ship but we're quite enjoying our stay in Maya/Axton-hell. Hope you do, too!

It was irritatingly calm when their vision cleared up. The dark atmosphere, flashing lights here and there of the Bunker had vanished, instead they found themselves in a storage room full of Marcus' Munitions boxes. Their hearts still raced. Maya sat still for a moment before turning around to Axton. They looked at each other, shock still imprinted on their faces.

„What. Was that“, Maya huffed after a few seconds, trying to catch her breath. Absentminded she fumbled around her waist for her shield, munition, the class mod, seeing if everything was still there.

„I guess we finally god the chance to meet Mister Handsome in person“, Axton said curling the corner of his mouth upwards, although his voice was still shaking. Arms on his hips, he strolled a few steps into the room, examining his surroundings. „Could really have saved this up for another time. Would've prinked myself up.“

Their conversation was drained by the silence of the room which weighed heavily on them after the noise in the Bunker. Their minds trailed off, both trying to comprehend what had just happened out there. 

„Well, at least we're sure now he looks that ugly even in person“, Axton laughed after a few moments.

„Axton, this is not the time to crack you stupid jokes“, Maya hissed. She had pulled up her knees to her chest, resting on one of the crates of which numberous stood around in the small storage room.

„Just tryin' to lighten the mood up here“, he mumbled under his breath,searching one of the boxes for munition. Half-assed he stuffed it into his pockets.

„Were you too busy respawning the whole time just now or did you look at yourself in some reflection in one of the Loaders and lost the focus?“ Maya's voice was a little too sharp for their normal teasing. „Did you see what just happened there? Roland is dead! And no New-U will bring him back here! Do you have an idea what happens to the resistance now?“

„That's how war works, Maya. Not that I ever expected ya to know anyway-“

„Cut it out! This is not the right time for picking on my past-“ Maya had straighten up a bit, glaring at Axton, but quickly shut her mouth again as he made a step towards her, interrupting her.

„But when is it? It wasn't from the beginning, not after the fuckin' train. You wanna sit around here and cry your eyes out? Tell me, when is your goddamn situation? When's the right time?“ He had turned around to her and opened his arms into a questioning gesture, palms facing upwards. He paused, letting his gaze slip up and down on her. It was rare that he was searching for words. „I freakin' saw what just happened there, I'd still have his fuckin' blood on his face if it weren't for the phasing. I'm not stupid, Maya. But last thing I wanna do right now is crawl into some corner and whine about it. I'm tired of your shit.“ He spat out and turned around again. 

The room was taken over by silence again. Axton slowly turned around, expecting Maya to hit him with her next refutation – but she wasn't paying attention to him.

„Maya, you even listenin' to what I'm saying?“

„It's not that I care about your shit anyway.“, she said calmly. „I've made up my mind.“

„The heck you talkin' 'bout? Take your goddamn gun and let's get out of here, we've got some assholes to kill!“ Axton came another step closer and reached for her arm, but she swerved sideways, flung up her wrist and before Axton realised, he was stunned in her phaselock as she ducked underneath him and let herself fall onto another crate on the other side of the room before letting him go.

„The fuck, Maya?! You wanna meet the turret or what're you askin' for here?!“ He swept the dust off his pants and dug into his pocket. Visibly startled she lifted her hands, palms facing him in a concilliatory gesture.

„Wait! I'm sorry, I'm just trying to explain something to you! Not easy with your poor anger-management!“ Axton grinded his teeth at that, but kept quiet. Maya's shoulders relaxed a bit. „Allright. So... You know. I thought... If all Jack needs is a Siren to charge the Vault key... right? And I'm a Siren too...“

„...You nuts lady?“

„It's not that I don't have a purpose here or something but I thought... It would just be better that way. For everyone. We've come this far and if I have a chance to change it I sure as hell won't give that up...“

„You knoy what ya sayin' right now? You're gonna turn yourself in?“ Axton had furrored his brows heavily and bent forward into her direction. „That wouldn't make any sense, he has everythin' he needs now. We don't even bother his left testicle anymore! Don't gimme that look, I'm being serious. Sorry to break it to ya, but he needs the strongest Siren. And you-“

„I know that I'm not the strongest, jerk“, she snapped and looked away. „It's just that he doesn't know that. And if we can convince Jack into thinking that, it'll be the key. You'd do alot better with Lilith on your side, since she's the stronger one out the two of us. Maybe I can buy us some time until he notices that I'm no use for him.“

„Ya listening to yourself when you're talkin'? That's the dumbest idea you had 'till now.“ Axton's voice was firmer than it normally was, his eyes locked on hers, not darting around him like he normally would when one was having a conversation with him.

„Allright, I didn't ask you for a permission anyway! I may not be the strongest Siren, but I'm still strong enough to stop you from holding me back. When Lilith contacts us next time, I'll tell her the plan.“ She stood up from the crate and headed towards the door which she believed lead to the story upstairs, keeping her glance firm on the door instead of the soldier.

As she reached for the doorknob, Axton's hand was faster. She flinged, not having heared him coming closer this fast. He slammed the door closed again and grabed her upper arm, fingertips digging into her skin, spinning her around in the process. She felt her back crashing against the rough surface and let out a choked gasp.  
„What the fuck, Axton! Let me go! I never signed a goddamn contract or anything that we're in this together!“, she growled and tried to rip herself out of his grip.

„If you phaselock me again I'll kick your pretty ass, so stop it and listen to me for one second. Did the same for ya seconds ago“, he snarled and shook her a bit with every word he pressed through his gritted teeth. Her next sentence was stuck in her throat as she tried to stare back at him, but there was something in his eyes she could not quite put her finger on.

„I can't, idiot, I used it just now“, she managed to hiss and glared at him, chin mildly tilted upwards as he stood so close to her, cursing herself silently. 

„I can't let ya do that.“ His voice was firm, his expression stone cold.

„I never asked you to babysit me!“, she shot back but her voice cracked a little as she was seemingly irritated. The look on his face made the pit of her stomach grow weirdly cold. She felt his grasp loosen up and when he drew back his hand, she rubbed the spot where his nails had dug into her arm a moment ago. She felt her throat closing up.

„I ain't babysittin' ya, you're a grown up lady. And so is Lilith. She'll handle the situation if we come up with an idea. A good idea. We're a family and we'll surely not risk another Siren to fall into Jack's hands. We need your power here more than we ever have. I'm just asking ya one simple thing. And that is to take my hand“ - he reached out to her, palm facing upwards - „and step back from that door.“

In fact, she had experienced him like that before. The memory struck her just now, when he closed his mouth again, as if searching for the next thing to say, teeth gritted. The sound of the battlefield, bullets pattering to the ground around them. Her blurry vision when she was weakened to the point where she collapsed to the ground, fighting for her life. When his arm reached seemingly out of nowhere, pulling her back up again. His eyes, hastily darting around and lingering just a bit longer on her than they were on his surroundings, making sure his teammates got up safely. 

Of course it was, objectively observed, a waste of time in a situation as serious as this. Her body would just respawn a few feet away, healthy and ready to go throw herself back into combat again. But she noticed, over those bold comments of his - „I'm no sayin' you owe me. I'm implying it.“ - there was something else entailing when he tugged them up onto their feet again.

Although you respawned in a matter of seconds after getting killed on the battlefield, dying sure wasn't made any easier. On that, the New-U had no influence. At least it wasn't made to have any on it. The pain still struck you harder than you remembered it from the last time. Lungs aching with every catch for breath, blood burning in your veins as your sight blurres. The first time, Maya had to take her time to get used to the sensation of dying. The feeling of every muscle, every nerve in your body begging for release.

And Axton was rather risking a few hits himself than letting them experience that over and over again.  
Through a blurr she gazed at the hand gestured at her. His words echoed back and forth in her mind. Probably the others already knew about the incident. Probably they were at the Head Quarters, seething and planning. Coming up with their best backups.

„I'm sorry I-... I guess my heroism went overboard, kinda.“, she mumbled under her breath, but Axton seemed to understand her. In a soothing gesture she stepped towards him, away from the door. She bumped into him lightly, and as a matter of course he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

„We'll figure that out.“, was all he said. „Just don't go.“

***

Sanctuary seemed to linger quietly at that time in the setting sun. Deep orange and violet rays of sun dipped the town into dark shades, throwing the shadows of every resident feet-long onto the dusty streets. The usual chickering, the blows of breezes in the distance, everything was muffled by a draining tranquility that laid upon the refuge since that day.

There was something different about the message that spread like a wildfire after the Vault Hunters had returned. The weight of it dwelled longer than usual on the streets, creeping into every corner, biding onto their citizens like a pleague. Weeks passed adjusting to the inevitable fate they were facing. Something was missing.  
First one to throw herself around their necks was Gaige when they returned to Sanctuary, screaming something about how they all worried their asses off waiting for them, and how Salvador and Brick had been exchanging bets about something they didn't want to know about further. Krieg appeared shortly after Gaige, and they didn't understand what he was screaming, but when he yanked a surprised Maya into his huge arms, lifting her up from the ground, they knew it must have been something similar. Zer0 was joining them, a releaved emotion flashing over his helmet. 

A few days later at the Head Quarters, they calmly discussed their next steps. Mordecai and Brick were visibly battered, but even more determined. The town had lost and forfeit two of their strongest leads, that was without question. But after the life seemed to return to the Head Quarters, to the narrow alleys, filling the town with noise again; Lilith assuring them over the Echo system she was allright, that they should take their time, their mutual promise to kick Jack's ass now as hard as ever – the resistance seemed as strong as never before.

 

Axton was – to his disfavour – covered in crusts of something that he thought may once have been blood, but wasn't sure if it was just dirt. However, there was a lot of it.

The mission they returned from was one of the hardest ones they had in days. Everyone was worn out when they arrived back at the Head Quarters, assembling their loot (for some of them, at least the one they wanted to share), which though didn't stop the urual humor to shine through the debriefing.

„You should've seen him scrubbing his turret, 'was like watching someone masturbate“, Salvador laughed and smacked Axton's shoulder with his flat hand, causing the soldier to waver a bit.

„Wanna see you when your beloved guns have goo shoved up their barrels, genius“, he snarled but shot Sal a quick smirk. „Who am I to let my precious lady to deprave like that?“

„I feel you, bruh“, Gaige muttered, face-flat draped onto one of the sofas, sleepiness having taken over her desire for loot. „Spent a whole hour cleanin' Death Trap's wires.“

„Can always count on ya, kid“, Axton chirped and shoved a pile of cash across the floor into Zer0's direction, receiving a brand-new Assault Rifle in return. He ran his fingers over the surface, eyeing every detail carefully - „Oh god someone take the gun away from that pervert!“, Salvador bickered, earning a fist right below the ridge.  
He put the rifle aside, aimlessly patting dust off his pants before getting up on his feet.

„Well, I call that a blast. We've done good today.“, he declared in a heroic voice, earning a fistbump and muffled „Yeah!“ from everyone, some more motivated than others, Gaige hollering into the cussions of the couch, Zer0 flashing a „(Y)“ over his helmet. 

„And I as well call it a night. 'm sure everyone's ou-kay with that? You sure deserved it, fellas. If someone needs me, I'll be at the bar.“ With that, he lifted his hand to a faint wave and left the little group behind, Kriegs shouts and screams they probably triggered with their little victory chant slowly veering away from his ears as he headed upstairs.

„You comin'?“, he asked, shoulder leaning against the doorframe. Maya looked up from the guns assembled around her, trying to decide which one to store in the safe. „Oh, you're ready?“, she rather asserted than questioned, rubbing one eye with her palm. „I'm not sure if I join you today, I'm just so run down by combat today, so-“  
„Let the alcohol handle that.“, Axton chimed and pushed himself off the wall, heading towards the stairs.  
The siren sighed and gathered her weapons, stood up and followed him. „Only because it's you.“ 

 

The bar was busy tonight. With dawn, the streets seeped into the wide-opened gates of the local pub, hustle and bustle and music excelling one another by turns.

„My treat tonight.“, Axton remarked quickly and headed towards the counter where Moxxi got her hands full. She greeted him with a warm smile, leaning onto the counter bending towards him and with that giving him one of the insights she tends to reserve for special guests. Maya strolled around the cramped rooms and finally found an enpty bench not far from the center. Not shortly after she had settled, Axton returned with two drinks in his hands, setting them with a soft clink onto the table, sliding onto the bench next to her. Grateful she lifted her glass, the two raising their glass to each other. Maya swallowed the first gulp with a shudder, the booze burning down her throat. 

„Getting the hard stuff right at the beginning, are we now?“, she nudged him in the side with her ellbow.

„We gotta make you stay awake on me, aren't we? Or ya wanna leave me alone for the night, I need some entertainment after a day like this...“ He did a little better on hiding the impact of the alcohol, but after their occasional drinking nights turned into a routine Maya noticed that.

„Be a good example, at least! Like you were out there today. You fought great.“ Maya's voice dimmed a little at that and she leaned forwards, draping her arms onto the table.

„You saved my ass at least five times, 'gotta admit“ Axton set down his glass and the siren raised an eyebrow at the missing fluid in it.

„No need to drink the pain away, Mr.-Thought-You-Didn't-Care“, she chuckled as Axton waved at the bar in order to get his drink refilled.

„Just gotta calm down a bit.“, he assured her with a smirk and leaned back, draping his arms over the back rest. „I mean, we're already planning the next hit on Hyperion. And who knows how well it'll go this time... well, now that we're prepared.“

„You mean you doubt Brick's plan?“

„Thats not it.“ He gestured a quick 'thank you' at Moxxi who brought him the drink along with a playful wink. „It's just interesting to observe. The way plans are made here I mean. Back at Dahl you had clear instructions, go there, shoot this, come back. Noone o' me or my commerades ever thought about givin' a little input. We just followed. Didn't question anything. Ya know.“

„Yeah... I think I know.“ Maya's gaze trailed off. „You just play along, without thinking.“

The two sat in silence for a while, listening to shreds of conversations around them, Axton watching passers-by, Maya staring intot her glass.

„How come we never got back to that whole abbey topic?“, he blurted out after a while and when Maya turned her head at Axton, the impact of the alcohol could slowly be remarked with the colour of her cheeks. Axton eyed them for a moment before raising an eyebrow.

„Axton, I know nothing of this is any familiar to you, but even you should know what an abbey is, right?“ Her lips curled into a grin.

„Thanks smartass. I mean, we all shared our stories with the time, just not in detail. Guess we never got around to do it. So why not now?“ He adjusted his position until he could face her in a comfortable angle. Maya watched him for a few moments, as if deciding he was worth to think of a sassy rejection or she should just leave it. „Come ooon, mysterious child of darkness, you can't hide your secrets forever!“

„Allright, allright! Just...never call me that again.“

„I thought women liked the mysterious thing?“

„No...the child part.“ She gulped down another mouthful of booze.

„What, did they call you 'my child'? How cliché is that, now you got me curious.“ Axton grinned over the rim of his glass, carefully observing her reaction.

„Yeah... Not the best nickname to go by.“ Maya sighed. „They called me that since I can think. I was there since I was a little baby, they brought me up. Wasn't until I was a teenager until I learned about the world outside of those walls, but of course I was never allowed to leave the abbey.“

Axton watched her quietly, the siren absently tracing the rim of her glass with her index finger, supporting her head with the other one. The noise around them seemed to bleed out into a blurred background of mumbling and faint music. He let his gaze slip up to her other hand, the blue marks veiling the back of her hand and her fingers. It remained on her lips as she was explaining further.

„Guess there's nothing thrilling about the whole thing though... I was teached meditation as well as combat through my life in order to be the goddess they wanted me to be. Through that I learned to control my powers. I always felt weird about some of the stuff, but it all wrapped up in my twenties. Brought some innocent pedestrian into the abbey and expecting me to kill him so...“ - She turned to him and shrugged - „I killed them.“

„Wow. Cold as ice, just as expected from ya.“ Axton chuckled faintly. Maya seemed to rather devote herself to her drink than scolding him for his joke. „No, for real... That sounds horrible. Glad ya made it out there.“

„Just as expected from me.“, she chirped, gulping down the rest of her glass. „Now, your turn!“

Axton chuckled again, rubbing at his nose. His ears had also slowly reddened at the effect of the booze. „I think you know everything. Went to military, didn't like it, got out of there, ended up here. Solid story.“ He shot her a thumbs up, but Maya shot him a frown.

„You don't like to talk about her don't you?“

„Well... guess I should show myself a little grateful after you opened up to me, so... yeah, I don't like to talk about my ex-wife alot. What do ya wanna now?“  
„I just don't get how she could do this.“ Maya shook her head and Axton mumbled, „Me neither.“

„Not that I am an expert at that whole relationship thing but... I thought love worked a little different, you know.“ She pushed around her empty glass, leaving traces of condensed water on the rough wooden surface.

„Dunno' either where that 'whole love' ended. It just sort of did. Guess I get why ya wanted to get out of that abbey, I didn't like being controlled at the military either, and unfortunately, it was my wife who controlled me, as in, my boss. We disagreed on many things, job-related, privatly. Gave me back the wedding ring. Damn, I always thought women loved that diamond shit... Guess she's one of the kind who doesn't deserve one anyways“ He downed the content of his glass with a solit gulp, throwing his head back. „Guess not anyone can be a goddess.“

Maya watched him from the side. Distance was a rare thing to see in Axton's eyes and she wondered if anyone of their team members ever caught sight of it. If she ever did before. He rubbed the stubble on his chin, and Maya could tell from the movement of his temples that he was grinding his teeth.

„I...never opened up like that to anyone before.“, she said calmly. „Feels good to tell it to somebody who won't run off with it only to stab you in the back someday.“  
Axton curled the corners of his mouth up into a half-assed smile. „Me neither. No offense, but I was surrounded by idiots regardin' that subject. My commerades back at Dahl? They'd just drag me into the next strip-club everytime they noticed something was wrong with me. And here... well, I trust all of them. Just never felt that...connection to anyone 'til now.“

Maya nodded slowly, barely noticing the skilled hand that snatched away her empty glass and replaced with a full one. Moxxi sauntered back behind the bar, giving most of her attention to another costumer now.

Axton leaned back against the backrest again, huffing a laughter. „Guess we are at that point now huh?“ His voice sounded sore and husky, a little more hoarse than it already did when his throat wasn't coarsen by Pandoran alcohol. „Whining about out past over way too many glasses of booze.“

Maya shrugged her little shrug. „Anything better in mind then, commando?“

„Another drink would solve it, don't ya think?“

„Are you trying to make me tipsy? I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I've got year-long experience with first-hand straight-outa-the-abbey-wine.“

„We'll see 'bout that in a second, nun“ He earned another nudge in the ribs for that. 

„Watch your mouth, eyebrow“, Maya sang and flicked her wrist, the tattoos in the center of her hand dangerously glowing. „You don't want that drink to spill over your precious military pants, do you?“

„Well, you're a virgin from an abbey, so I'll call you a nu-“ In the next second he found himself upside down, tangeling over the table in a height tall enough to earn him some unpleasant bruises if he would crash onto the table like that. At this time of the night, the majority of the bar didn't even seem to care about random siren powers. Axton, meanwhile, let out a very nervous laugh.

„Hahha-oka-okaay! I'm sorry M, won't happen again, can ya let me down now safe and sound – please?“ 

Maya seemed to enjoy the show but withdrew her hand slowly whereas Axton was let down slowly until his shoulder hit the table with a soft 'thud' as she let him fall the last few centimeters. Catching his breath, Axton sat up and climbed off the floor and back onto the bench.

„That was embarassing. Never wanna experience that again, to be honest. Now I get why everyone is terrified of you...“ He said that with a smile, running a hand through his now-messy hair. Maya couldn't help but notice the wink he'd thrown at her and cursed him silently for keeping his composure even after being phaselocked by a siren twice in a month. Before she could open her mouth, their drinks arrived and Axton reached over to hand her hers.

Axton let himself sink against the backrest again, draping one arm over it like it was his living room. As his fingertips brushed the strands in Mayas neck, a little silence between the two was created, which they used to nip at their drinks.

„I'll admit, I gotta miss this.“ Axton cleared his throat, letting his gaze sweep through the room, eyeing a point far away from them.

„I guess there's always a planet inhabited by things you can kill“, Maya remarked. „Maybe you'll find one with only Threshers. Paradise, isn't it?“ She smirked.

„That's not what I mean.“ The soldier was eyeing something on the table now. His lips were curled into a slight smile. „I mean the drinking nights. Storytellin'. All of the dumb jokin'. Hell, even the fights.“

„Just take Salvador with you and you'll never have to worry about a calm day!“, the siren chirped, watching him silently.

„Ah, Sal is an old friend compared to what I mean. You're way more fun to tease.“, Axton grinned, watching Maya's outrage grow in the corner of his eyes.

„Well, at least I knew you where an annoying impostor right when you came into that cabin back on the train! Talking about your glorious turret and shit!“ Maya was laughing while accusing him, nudging him with her ellbow, but this time, Axton dodged.

„Oh yeah, punk? Y'know what I thought first when I see you, someone gotta strip off his jacket and lay it on the ground for you so you don't get dirt on your pretty shoes!“, grinnind knowing he was save in the cool-off-time of her phaselock right now.

„I guess we quickly learned it was the other way around, right, Axe-is-there-something-wrong-with-my-hair-ton?!“

„I'd die twice as much when you wanna call me that from now on when tellin' me to 'watch out, Axe-is-there-something-wrong-with-my-hair-ton, behind you!' on the battlefield, Maya“, he laughed, bending sideways she stroke out for another lunge towards him. 

„At least I'm quick warnin' ya – 'Watch out, nun!'“ He lauged and raised up a hand in front of his face as she tried to ruffle his hair. He caught her wrist which only caused her to giggle, already bringing in her other, uncovered hand reaching for his head. He grabbed that with his other arm, now leaning dangerously unsupported on the bench. It took one last try from Maya to kick him into the stomach that caused the two to fall over, Axton onto his back, half-leaning on the armrest of the bench with a low grunt as Maya landed on top of him, both more coughing than laughing. Maya managed to mess with his hair with her ellbow until Axton got a solid grip on her wrists – that girl was stronger than he looked, he knew that from the beginning.

Panting from the sudden movement, their laughter slowly drained off until they just grinned at each other. Maya could feel the light huffs on her neck when Axton exhaled, some of her blue strands lightly swinging from the air draft. His ellbow was digging into her stomach, but he still gripped onto her wrists, leaving her unable to retreat.

„What...do you mean, you'll miss this?“, she breathed out, still trying to catch her breath. She catched his eyebrow twitch lightly from this up close.

„Well... every adventure has it's end, I mean. For some earlier, some make it 'till the end.“ He couldn't help but notice her eyes following the movement of his lips. Her hipbone dug into his thigh, but he didn't dare to shift. One of the strands framing her face was ghosting over his jaw. „We kill that fucker, our duty here's done. Maybe we get a few more jobs, but soon we'll have to move on. Everyone, I mean.“ His voice was almost nothing more than a huff by now. „You...Me...too.“

As he looked back at her eyes again, he pulled his eyebrows into a frown. Blame it on the alcohol; blame it on the dimmed light, their short fight just now, but Axton could swear, he saw something shimmery, wet just beneath her lower lashlines. His grip had loosened up by now, Mayas wrists laying loosely in his half-opened hands. Despite the background noise, he could hear her breaths shake a little. Slowly, he brought up his hands to her chin, cupping her cheeks carefully. The siren closed her eyes as he ran a thumb over the blue spots beneath her eye. They crossed the last few centimeters between them, and their lips met, gently, reverent almost. Mayas fingers clasped onto the fabric at his chest as they melted into the kiss, Axton wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer.  


Hell, nobody was going to leave Pandora anytime soon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All new beginnings are difficult, and all hangovers make you a little clumsy.

The first time it was heard on the news.

The town was strangely quiet since the Vault Hunters left, on to face what was yet their biggest enemy. Rumors had formed in a matter of hours after they had disappeared at the travel station. There was no debate wether every one of them was nervous, on the brink of a break down, contrary to everything they had been through. It had all been the prelude. It was only just beginning.

And the town knew that. The members of the Crimson Raiders who held the fort at the headquarters, strolled along the streets, watched out for intruders even though Hyperion’s forces must be concentrate on, well, a slightly more important objective – Lilith, Brick and Mordecai had made sure that Sanctuary was monitored by every single resident. Because they knew better than leaving the town vulnerable to a back-door-attack just when their most valuable forces were gone on a mission; but rather to give the population a duty. To get their minds off the nerve tearing anticipation, waiting for the finale of the conflict that had turned into an apocalypse they named Hyperion.

Nobody was blaming the town as it slowly gave up on them, one by one. It had been days since their last Echo call. A simmering concern was wafting through the dusty streets. The uncertainty prickled beneath one’s skin and everybody tried to brush off their minds what was inevitable to face sooner or later if the Vault Hunters lost this fight, but the mind can only bear this for a time.

That was why nobody believed the broadcast at first.

And when the first of them set their foot into Sanctuary, materializing out of thin air - the crimson blood all over her matched the flaming red hair, on her face a victory smile – that was when the town burst into a sheer chaos.

They had declared their victory on the market place, and when they heard the triumphant voices of the old Vault Hunters, holding each other in their arms, raising their fists in the air – only then they realized along with the rest of the town that they had succeeded. They won. It was over. Their chants were drowned in the ecstatic cheering of the crowd, which echoed for hours after the celebration. Even in the late evenings, the town was calmer, but seemed never to stand completely still.

Their last days were to remember in a haze of events. They could barely tell apart their countless missions they had competed on; that and their sleep deprivation. The Vault Hunters had gone to their limit and beyond, driving themselves further than they ever had, and had achieved what was once a gleam of their abilities to turn into a wide horizon. That was why, after days of severe partying, Axton was finally treating himself with the sweet sleep his body ached for since a dangerously long time. They all had noticed their comparatively slow recovering with slight concern, but brushed it off their minds quickly because – well, they had rescued a planet after all. It was finally time to rest.

For all except Maya. Her pounding on his door did not show the slightest sign of fatigue until Axton opened a door and squinted at the bright sunlight as if he hadn’t seen it for days – which wasn’t that absurd if you think about it – glaring at the impertinently agile siren in front of him.

“What in the heavens are you doing here”, he said with a hoarse voice, ready to slam the door shut again.

“Just checking if you’re alive.”, she explained with a raised eyebrow, eyeing him slowly, beginning at his messy hair and unshaved chin over the stained shirt to the –   
“Boxer shorts, really? Is that how you welcome a Lady that has never been to your place before?”

“Dunno what ya talkin’ ‘bout, the turret is back there” He waved to the dark room behind him, not even bothering to think of a nickname, though curling up the corner of his lips to the slightest smirk.

Maya rolled her eyes. Axton found they looked even lighter in the sun. “All joking aside, I wanted to invite you to a drink tonight. Haven’t done this in weeks after all the stress, are you in?”

He scratched his neck, shifted from one foot to the other. It was a hesitation not longer than a second, but Maya noticed it regardless. “Sure, I’d murder for a can of that stuff now. How your requirements drop with time huh!” He let out a short laugh after that.

“Yeah”, Maya said, shooting him a quick look. There was a moment of silence between them that lasted a little too long to be comfortable. “I’ll see you then, tonight”. With that, she gestured a wave and disappeared, trailing off on the sunny streets.

 

   
Axton shut the door slowly, as if in a deep trail of thought, and remained standing in front of it after. His hand squeezed around the door handle, eyes shut. They hadn’t seen each other it being just the two of them, no nights at the bar, no muffled talks in the tents at nights on a mission. Their objective had left them too busy at day and too exhausted at night to really form any groups for chit chats. They had had light talks about this and that with the others around, enjoying each other’s company, but that was that. He had imagined their first encounter after all of the parties – after that one night at the bar - differently.

The past weeks had been the best and most exhausting at the same time. Their victory filled him with a euphoria he hadn’t experienced since he first joined the military, mind still open and naïve, or as he arrived at Pandora. Sanctuary turned into basically a flying Springbreak Hotspot – minus the beach – not long before they invaded Opportunity. Lilith would have to come up with a good idea if that city would turn into one of their bases, as it was planned, because now, the streets were full of rubbish and drunk people. Nobody seemed to mind though; they all deserved this once in a while. The nights were only a blur in his memory, loud music, slurred conversations, evenings in the headquarters with many laughs, stories after stories and just the right amount of liquor. They even slipped Gaige something, which at that point neither Lilith nor Maya seemed to mind as they were too busy with their own level of alcohol; nobody regretted it either as Gaige turned out to be even more herselfwhen drunk.

It was a few days in when Axton began to draw back from it all. Usually being the amused watcher at the corner of the room, mocking everyone with what he had seen the next morning or being the star of the evening himself, it started with a conversation they had the other night, piled up at the headquarters. Literally, because they all tried to fit into the small room upstairs, and it ended with Krieg acting as armchair for Gaige for the rest of the night, Salvador and Brick practically cuddling up on one of the beds which bent dangerously under their joined weight in a moment of their bromance that lasted since their return to Sanctuary; not to speak of Zer0 who would always find an unremarkable spot; the only thing he had seen from Mordecai all night were his feet dangling down from the upper bed and an impressive amount of bottles they handed him through the evening. Lilith was busy keeping anyone from slipping Tina one of the bottles, but she eventually gave it up and spent the rest of the night discussing echonet shows Axton had never heard of. Maya was arguing with Scooter most of the time about her driving skills and wether Scooter should withdraw her license at the Catch-A-Ride-Stations. Axton was teasing her with stories of their wildest trips with her as a driver when, slowly, a subject began to settle in the little group.

“So, what are you all doing after this?”, had Gaige asked into the round, cheeks slightly too red to be from sleepiness. Their chatting ebbed away, everyone tilting their head as if nobody ever thought of a time after Hyperion.

“Never thought of a time after Hyperion.”, Tina said. Axton pulled a grimace.

“Well, weeell, I designated my life to my industry, so I’ll probably travel ‘round till there ain’t no single soul on this goddamn planet havin’ to walk a single meter, am I right! Catch a riiiide!” Scooter jumped on his feet and struck a pose. They all glassed him at that, a few joined him in and the slogan was slurring around the room, everyone giving it his own impression.

Gaige cleared her throat aggressively and their heads turned around to her again. “I, for my part, will be exploring the widths of this galaxy, maybe side trip to Elpis – who knows! I’ll be the world’s youngest, most good-looking, most brilliant mercenary – and I’ll finally win that sience competition I tell you!!”, she declared, crossing her arms. Somebody applauded at that.

Appereantly, even Claptrap had plans. “I’ll work on reviving my unit, my beautiful race of geniuses, so the universe will eventually bow down to the glorious generation of C14P-TR4P!” he stated in his usual a-little-too-exited voice and earned a chorused grunt.

“Mordy, Lily and I are going on the good old Vault hunt after that.”, Brick declared with a joyish undertone in his loud voice. Mordecai raised his bottle approvingly, Lilith grinned her trademark smirk. Axton shifted his position slightly, watching that mass of pure muscle of a man. He caught himself envying him for going on another adventure, just like that, as old friends. After all they had been through, he thought.

Gaige urged Zer0 by throwing bottles at him, which naturally all shattered on the wall since Zer0 was using his invisibility to dodge them until Lilith elbowed her in the ribs to tell them what he would be up to, which ended in a series of philosophic haikus about freedom for which they were way too tipsy at that point. Now it was Salvador’s turn. “Been here on Pandora all my life, so I might not leave it very soon. Might travel around a little, might be ugly as fuck here but there’s still some pretty places.”

“You sure you don’t mean pretty girls with that?”, Axton chuckled and raised a glass in his direction in order to symbolize him the joke; sometimes that was a bit risky with Sal.

“Before you’re makin’ the big jokes here, why don’t you tell us what you’ doin’?”, said Vault Hunter shot back and crossed his arms.

“Yeah Axton, I’m so pumped to hear!”, Gaige chirped and leaned forward, as if in order to hear him better. “Nonono, don’t gimme that look, no backin’ out now! We’re all tellin’, so spit it out! Career as underwear model? Beach house with five kids? Which one is it!” Axton hat raised his hands, palms facing her. “I, uh…” He looked around the room, noticing all eyes were on him. His own gaze slipped inevitably to someone who had grown more and more quiet throughout the whole topic, and the siren looked away when he met her pale eyes.

“Dunno yet, I’m still young, so I got all the possibilities spread out in front of me. Like ‘em Ladies.” He added one of his dirty laughs at the end, earning applaus from the guys in the room that resembled a hoard of joyful monkeys. Technically, it was all the truth after all. “Since we’re all addin’ somethin’, Maya, why don’t you-“

He was interrupted by the door slamming wide open. Axton had never seen the guy, but nobody seemed to care about that as he shouted – “drinks are half off at Moxxis place, and she’s doing her contest again and come on – who doesn’t wanna win a lapdance from Moxxi?!”That was all needed to get the group moving in an instant, and a few seconds later, the room was empty, their laughter and muffled shouting to be heard from the hallway and soon from the streets. Axton took his time to get up from his spot on one of the beds. Even Zer0 went with them; and to Axton’s displeasure, Maya was also nowhere to be seen. He shook his head silently, hurrying after them.

Nobody seemed to make a big deal out of their life after Hyperion. Looking for challenges. Let it happen. Most of them, lone wolfs. They would stay in contact over the Echo probably, sharing wild stories about their latest adventures. As for his team, as long as it was somewhere thrilling, somewhere exiting, they did not care where their journey would take them. Who would be at their side.

Axton did.

***

The sun was not at it's highest point since it was early noon; yet, those morning rays dipped the streets into a radiant brightness. Too bright, almost. The siren could not help but squint her eyes, keeping her head tilted towards the ground as she strolled through the streets, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of her pants. Though her eyes gazed over the dusty asphalt in front of her, she felt like looking through a foggy filter blinded by the sun rays, one single question wandering through her head since she left the apartment – What was that just now?

She blamed her slight headache the bright sun was causing now to their sheer endless party nights over the last couple of days. In spite of her aloof nature that helped her alot on the battlefield but not quite so much outside of it, she had found the friends she never knew she wished for in all of her Vault Hunter teammates and as her barriers crumbled more and more, it had come to the point a few months ago where she just stopped caring about what were draining concerns for her not long ago. She couldn't quite put her finger on the time it happened, or why; all she knew was that she felt good here, comfortable with everyone around her. Minus Hyperion, but that had stopped being a problem too, after all. Nonetheless, there were days, ideas, conversations, that threw her off the track.

She arrived at the center of the town and slowed down her pace, merely ambling by now. There were a few residents on the market place, but it seemed the majority of the town was doing after Axton and had a lie-in, trying to sleep off their hangovers. She didn't mind having a little time to herself, even though she wouldn't mind a get-together for a nice breakfast and some morning slaughter as well. She couldn't really decide, there was just that strange feeling in her chest somewhere she tried to ignore since yesterday.

Yesterday. Maya breathed out a harried sigh, kicking at a pebble in front of her feet. The evening was going nicely, she enjoyed herself spending the night at the headquarters, cramped up in that way too tiny room for everyone of them, and her stomach still hurt a bit from laughing. After that, they had even more fun at the bar; Moxxi was enjoying herself as well, normally one would say a little too much, but there was never too much for Moxxi. Maya had watched the whole thing from a booth at the side, talking to everyone who came by, the atmosphere was all in all elated, thoroughly delightful. It occurred to her only now that she didn't talk to certainly everyone yesterday.

Axton didn't stop by her table that night. He had left early, only an hour after they all arrived at the bar, but Maya hadn't noticed until someone was calling him out because he didn't take part in one of their drunkly slurred cheers as Moxxi dropped the next layer of clothing, realizing he wasn't there. She had gone back to her conversation then; and although she recalled imagining herself walking out of the bar, possibly to run into him outside somewhere, maybe he was just catching a fresh breath of air outside – the alcohol had quickly been setting different priorities for her as the next song was intoned and Salvador was tugging her towards the bar.  
Maybe it had been a fault to stop by his apartment this morning. Maybe she had been interpreting the signs falsely all along. As the call popped up on her Echo, Maya winced slightly. She had stopped walking, catching herself staring at some stain on the asphalt.

“There ensued a crime / As peace is not eternal / Do you want to join?” She wondered if it was possible for Zer0's voice to sound any more static through the connection, yet so eerily human. “Uh- Sure!”, she replied after a short pause. “I'll be with you in a minute. I could use a little distraction.”

***

It was visibly remarkable that everyone came a little when they put on their equipment. Though it had been days since they last handled a gun, probably the longest break since they got to Pandora, it felt as if they'd never put them down in the first place. Sigh, combat – you couldn't live without it. After Salvador spent solid fifteen minutes in front of the munition vending machine preparing his guns, Gaige talked Krieg into carrying most of her repairing kits she was sure she did not need entirily but wanted to be on the safe side due to her Death Trap having had the long break as well and Axton held a painfully deep conversation with his turret, they were ready for the take off.

The call Zer0 had received and informed them about had come from a nearby area. Apparantly, some clan had used the calm after the storm to extend their business – until an informant had found out they were not dealing with 'Granny's Home-made Marmalade', but with human trafficking. Although Axton was sure that at minimum member of their group had been involved in stuff like that himself in the past, he also had stopped caring about what was good or bad a long, long time ago. The mission was a welcomed change after the past days of relaxing, although nobody was complaining about putting their feet up. Missions meant loot and money and that was all he needed in his life. Definitely all. Yeah. Axton did after them and used the Fast Travel to find himself standing ankle-deep in a thick layer of snow.

“-y god Zer0, couldn't you warn us that we're headin' to Three Horns divide?! Can't we go to – like, I dunno, somewhere where I don't freeze my frickin' ass off?!”, Axton heard Gaige fuming a few feet away from the Travel Sation he arrived at.

“Glad to hunt again / Location not in my hands / Loot and wealth or not?” There was a taunting undertone in Zer0's voice, if that was possible at all. Axton made his way over to them, watching Krieg quick as a shot putting a stained, pitted cloth around Gaige's shoulders from which Axton did not want to know where it came from as Krieg always ran around chest bared, but Gaige didn't seem to mind. “Thank you girlfriend, you're the best!”, she chirped and reached out for him, pecking him a kiss on his mask when Krieg bent down to her.

“The daintiest sweetmeat is too precious to wane!!!”, Krieg screamed at the top of his lungs although Gaige was standing three steps away from him and earned an amused giggle and a fist-bump.

“Easy, big guy, or do ya want the bandits to come at us a minute in?”, Axton said as he caught up with them, patting the Psycho on his massive shoulder - his skin was strangely warm for the temperature around them.

“I am awaiting the sleazebags to descend from the parlour!!!” He got the answer with give-away; drops of spit that flew into his face. How was that guy even able to spit through his mask. “Allright allright, let's just wait for the others, we'll attract them soon enough”, Axton assured him, whiping it off with his sleeve. He turned around as he heared footsteps crunching in the snow, and although he sweared he heared only one person nearing themselves, Salvador and Maya made their way over the frozen field to the four of them, the Gunzerker visibly jittering at the cold while the siren showed no sign of the slightest freeze, despite her exposed arm and hip, skin as sallow as the snow seemed to glow, her pale eyes mirroring the light that the ice reflected. Her gaze was locked onto a point somewhere between Krieg and Gaige; as it flickered into his direction, Axton suddenly found the munition storing pockets at his belt very interesting.

Zer0 noticed Salvador's grimace, crossing his arms. “What is it with you / Never prepared at errand / Have request to hand?”

“C'mon guys, you'll warm up when we're finally moving.”, Axton urged clapping his hands a few times before the gunzerker could puff up and watched Krieg pull another of his cloths out of – now Axton knew – the hem of his pants. He wondered where exactly it was stored, but quickly dropped the thought due to self protection from his own fantasy. The group got into motion and they trailed along the faint path, heading in the direction of the open fields, leaving the Travel Station behind them.

Axton was concentrating his attention on the conversations around him, watching Krieg finally surrendering Gaige's pleads and picking her up in a swift motion that resembled him merely picking up some grocery shopping bag than a teenage girl, one-handed, and let her settle on his shoulders which cleared up her mood in an instant; Zer0 was busy examining their surroundings through his scope which Axton took as an excuse not to do so; Salvador was being wrapped up into a discussion with the mechromancer who was clambering around on Krieg's back as she gestured passionately, the cloth she tugged herself in waving around while she did so, sometimes covering Krieg's field of view. Axton felt a shiver climbing down his spine and tucked his hands into his pocket. That was it – there was no way he could hold it in any longer.

He let himself fall back by letting himself fall on one knee, fumbeling with his shoe laces. That was the oldest trick but old but gold – it worked. He stood up when he heared the light footsteps of the last member of their group, who had let herself fallen behind as well. 

“How kind, you waited for me.”, he said a little too loud as she was passing him. Maya flinched visibly as Axton shot up next to her, running a hand through his hair quickly to push back the strands that had losened up while he was kneeling. “What, do I look like a bandit? Promise I always get that rudolph the reindeer nose when i'm cold.” He noticed her shoulders stiffen up and the playful expression disappeared from his face as if someone had snapped his fingers. “Allright, real-talk. Is it just me or are ya on a heavy period for the last couple o'days? Do Sirens even get their-” 

“Good call just now, commando. They would be arguing for hours.”, Maya interrupted his gibberish, gesturing in the direction of Salvador and Zer0 who tramped a good distance ahead of them through the snow, far away enough not being able to listen to their conversation over here.

“Oh come on, drop it. Even an emotional crag like Tannis would have noticed by now that you're doing your best to avoid me.” He could tell by her quick reaction that she must have been thinking about just the same thing since they caught up as a group.

“You are the one who avoided eye-contact right at the Travel Station. You didn't exchange a single word with me back at Sanctuary when we were getting ready.”   
Axton shot her an annoyed side glance; Maya stared firmly at something in front of them.

“Maybe because I have given up tryin' to get your attention since this mornin'.” 

“You were the one who wanted me to leave before I even knocked on your stupid door!”, she hissed. Her warm breath wafted around her as a white cloud, quickly dissolving.

“I was hungover, don't act like you don't know how that is.”, he grunted, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah I bet you were.” She paused for a dramatic effect, but Axton was raising one eyebrow doubtfully. “Don't think I didn't see all those bottles in at your place. Had a nice evening by yourself?”

“Don't get all upset about the booze, we're downin' litres of that stuff at the bar on some nights.” He cleared his throat. A few days ago, he would have believed that the siren was worrying about him addressing the bottles like that. But now, he felt far away from that set of mind. “Didn't feel like divin' into the crowd that night.”, he simply said, turning away from her. “Did they send you lookin' after me or what? I believe I'm old enough to do that myself.”

“Don't act up like that, you're not the only one on everyone's minds, geez. I was just checking if you're alive, like I said. We didn't talk in days.” Certainly wasn't on hers, he thought.

“Yeah, we didn't.” 

Silence was evolving around the two of them, only being interrupted by the shouts of their team mates in front of them; the sheds of their conversations ended up as an inextinguishable murmur of voices.

After a couple of seconds, he could hear her draw in her breath. “Axton, I-”

“Why are you avoiding me?” Am I that bad of a kisser?, he wanted to add. Am I that disappointment of a partner?

He was facing her entirely now, and he could tell from her facial expression hardening now that this was not one of their usual teasing fights. It wasn't from the second he had approached her. He had turned his back to the field they were heading to, placing himself in front of her.

“Axton, I don't think this is the right time to-”

“Don't pull that one on me, now. Before all of that we hung out like every day, and now you're not even sayin' hello when you're forced to go on a mission with me!” His voice raised as he spoke out the sentence, and it appeared that his mind had just shut off. Right, this was maybe not the best way to address their problem, nor was it the best time, but damn right he wanted to know what was going on.

“Listen, let's discuss that another time-”

“Don't you dare turn away from me now!”, Axton hissed and watched her lift her arm – was she reaching out for something? No, she was -

"You're phaselocking me running away from a fight. If that was a joke I'm not laughin'.” He saw her gritting her teeth as that eery glow descended from her unclothed arm. She was still firmly staring at something in front of them, away from him, almost nervously.

“Shut your stupid mouth already, I'm just-”

“Yeah, me too, I just wanna talk to you openly one god damn last time! You can send me into the Dead Sands after that, but I don't want this thing we have to end until I told you one time that I l-”

The next thing he felt was the shot that ripped through the skin at his shoulder. His mouth still open, he reached for the warmth that quickly spread across his chest; the pain almost didn't have any time to strike him as a second grazing shot hit him in the neck, tearing open a good track. Axton grunted, stumbeling forwards. His vision went blurry, he heard painful cracking sound in his ears, Maya's cry being only a muffled blur. He felt the nausea hit him when the atmosphere around them shifted as Maya phaselocked the origin of the shots, and his vision turned black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Axton is really good at solving problems - and even better at causing them.

He woke up to a sharp sting in his shoulder, the pain slowly dragging up to his neck and running through his arm, tingeling at his fingertips, burning like fever beneath his skin. There was a ringing in his ears he only knew from the detonation of a grenade in his face. His body felt heavy and sore. He wanted to scream, to curse to ease the pain a bit – he couldn't move a finger. Faint murmurs slipped into his consciousness, roughly standing out against the silence. Far away voices nattering agitatedly. It took him several eternal seconds to make out what they were saying.

“'He dead?”

“Waitwaitwait! He's unconcious, mommy feels a pulse...”

“A careless moment / Mauling him into that shape / Have seen better days.”

“The soul is trapped in that sack of meat!!! The mites are eating his insides!!!”

“Everybody calm down, you all act like you have seen someone get shot for the first time!”

“....”

“Just knock him out entirely, Maya, we'll get 'm at the Travel Station”

“I- I can't do that...”

“Yeah now that you say it, we'd have to walk all the way back if he croaks here...”

“That's not what I meant, idiot!”

“Just use your phaselock-thingy and he'll be fine in an instant, won't he?”

“There are no enemies around and I'm sure you don't want to become his health donor, right, Sal?”

“A'ight guys, no reason to order the funeral flowers, I'm- I'm right here”, Axton pressed through gritted teeth, hearing a collective gasp before he could pray open his eyes. A blur of orange and lilacs loomed at him as his eyes took their time to adjust to the bright rays of the sunset. Five people bending over him threw shades over his body and Axton squinted at them.

“He's awake!!!” Gaige's contour floundered exitedly; the enourmous shadow of Krieg patting her head.

“Dude, you passed out for hours. Missed a lot of fun”, Salvador grinned and Axton could make out half-dried blood shimmering in the fading light.

“I what? Shit... you guys okay? Is my lady fine?”, he groaned, trying to prop himself up on his ellbows only to sag back down with a loud “FUCK!” at the sting in his chest. The sharp edged object digging into his spine told him that, yes, his turret was safely stored in his pocket.

“You should take a rest / Your condition - appalling / Let us settle here.”, Zer0 stated with his calm voice and patted his other shoulder. Axton gawked at the pitiful emoticon that flashed over his helmet when another silhouette shoved themselves in front of the assasin; a drop of blood joined the big stain on the soldier's chest.   
“We wanted to call it a night for today here, anyway. But hey, you don't need to set the tents that time, lucky devil”, Salvador laughed and slapped his shoulder – the wrong one. 

Axton grunted harriedly. “Watch out, bastard... anyway, sorry to cause the trouble guys, I was not in my best shape today”, he uttered. Gaige shot him a wide grin. “No problemo, amigo! Happens to the best of us!!”, she sang; Krieg nodded frantically. Zer0, already standing, beckoned him the same and with that, the group dissolved slowly. 

By the time they were done building up the tents, Axton had managed to get himself into a sitting position and the sky was only lit by countless stars. Everyone was exhausted as they had forfeited one strong hand in combat with the soldier, and well, the soldier had taken two shots to the upper part of the body; but the others had managed to make inroads to Three Horns Divide. Some things never change – the place swarmed with bandits. They had settled in the shadow of a tall glacier at the safe brim of the area. Having found a more or less comfortable position laying on his side, Axton made up for the missed “fun” by going through the stuff he carried with him, debating over sorting some stuff out or get rid of it at the next vending machine.

The tarpaulin rustled calmly; a pale hand with blue marks appeared, lifting one side aside as the siren crawled into the tent. 

“To what do I owe the honor of that kind of late night visit?” His voice was still sore, and he closed the interface of his inventory and adjusted himself facing Maya as she settled down a few feet away from him.

“If Krieg gets into the tent, there's no way a second person fits in there. Only Gaige can pull that off. And Salvador... since Zer0's gone exploring, he'll be the poor one to share a tent. And... I brought drugs.” With that, she emptied the content of her pocket onto the ground; a good amount of health kits were piled up in front of him now. Axton felt a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “How are you feeling?”, he heared Maya ask.

“Besides my ass is a solid block of ice now and I almost bled to death – pretty good”, he said.

“That's your punishment for not paying attention to the mission.”, the siren stated, crossing arms over her chest. Her skin gleamed white in the faint light of the lantern they had set up in the corner of the tent; her face was covered in shadows. There was an amused undertone in her voice, but her expression told him otherwise. 

He tore his gaze off her and grabbed one of the kits, unwrapping it clumsily. “Big thanks... This sure helps through the night”, he said, injecting the red liquid into his upper arm. Overlooking the unpleasant sting, those things were always brightening up one's horizon pretty fast. He felt Maya's eyes lingering on his hands as he did so.

“You are hard to get rid off. Thought you'd go belly up out there.”, Maya murmured, her words slightly muffled as she had propped up her knees in front of her chest, wrapping her arms around them.

“Sure I am.” Axton leered at her. She pulled a grimace. For a moment, he was almost certain that warm feeling would spread in his stomach again, like it always did in moments like this.

It did not.

“Out there...”

“Yeah?”

“...you didn't answer my question.”

The siren turned her head slightly, gaze shifting away from him. Axton took a breath.

“So, you in?”

Maya blinked. “What?”

“When we're back at Sanctuary, revive our nights at the bar? I could really use a drink again, especially after today.”

“You didn't-...”

“I wanted to, but something got in my way.”, he taunted, patting the dark red stain on his chest.

He saw the slightest smile on the siren's lips gleaming in the light of the lantern and Axton felt his own curling into one as well. “Count me in.” 

“Will do. At least I still have enough money to invite you for the first few drinks”, he chuckled.

“Idiot.” Maya had made her way over to her sleeping bag and her face appeared in Axton's field of view as she was letting herself drop onto her side next to him. “You wouldn't believe, we accomplished so much without you today... Killed tons of enemies, found so much amazing loot.” She noticed Axton's drawn up eyebrow; he smirked at her doubtfully. “Rocket Launcher, Torgue, 27600 times three, fire rate 2.6.”, she added and watched his expression slip away, visibly amused.

“Don't tell me you gave that to Sal.”

“Safer than giving it to Krieg. Or Gaige.”, Maya stated, to which Axton nodded, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “That monster of a weapon... and I didn't even get to hold it in my hands...”, he whimpered with a dramatic voice.

“We did insane stunts with the car, so sad you didn't see it.”, Maya went on with that teasing undertone in her voice. Axton frowned as he was usually the one driving.

“Did you-”

“I did.” She looked visibly satisfied with herself.

“How come I'm the one who almost kicked the bucket?! You have the driving skills Krieg has at enunciating himself”, he shouted, shoving her shoulder, causing her to roll on her side. She sneered at him. “You're just boring.”

Comfortable silence spread over them after that; just now he noticed how hard she was trying to keep her eyes open. The tarpaulin rustled over their heads. “We should get some rest. Got some bandits to kill tomorrow.” Axton lowered his voice to a whisper; Maya nodded, eyes closed already. “Night, thug.”

“Night, idiot.”

In the morning, neither of them could recall who scooted closer in the night, curled up against the other, burying their face at the other one's shoulder. Pushing things under the carpet was never the best decision; in contrary, the worst that there was probably. But it worked for them, for now. For this instant. Axton woke up to find the siren in his arms, chest rising and lowering evenly, and figured – maybe sleeping in wasn't so bad after all.

***

She woke up from a familiar sound to her ears – the distant resonance of shootings that echoed from the glacier. It was hard to make out their exact location, especially seconds after being ripped out of sleep, but Maya could tell that they still had time to shove down a quick breakfast before being overrun. The area was flat and wide – leaving a lot of space for sound to travel. After all, she was glad being able to leave organizational tasks like that to slightly more capable members of their group.

The siren lifted one hand to rub her eyes with her palm. Her forearm brushed along a rough fabric; that's strange, she thought, pushing hair out of her face that covered her eyes, wincing at the light that was coming from the tent's entrance. She didn't recall grabbing a cover that night – did they even bring any? - since she fell asleep feeling pleasantly warm. How did she manage to do that anyway, without a blanket? She rubbed at her eyes once more, stretching slightly, until she opened her eyes. The wind from the night was gone, leaving the tarp calm around her. She could hear muffled chats outside; her teammates must already be up and going. She pushed the military jacket off her and pushed herself on her knees, crawling out of the tent.

“Already up, little mornin' bird?” How could one start the morning in a better way than being greeted by a smirking commando, handing her a cup of steaming liquid. “Promise it's not hot water this time, we could afford a few beans.”

Maya stood up, patting some snow off her pants. She took the cup, wrapping both her hands around the warm object. “I hope you kept this a secret? I'm not sure how … some individuals will react to caffeine...”

She barely finished the sentence as chunks of snow tumbled down a slope near them as somebody climbed up the icy rocks.

“I am the emperor of this parvis of frigid ordeal!!! My fibres are screaming in canon!!!”

“Let's say, did my best.”, Axton said and took another gulp of coffee. His visible, warm breath mixed up with the white fume that rose from his cup. He had stuck the other hand in his pocket and shifted his weight onto one leg, looking over the flat that laid in front of them, probably searching for a sign of undesired visitors. The blood on his chest looked dark and dry; he had wiped away the remains at his neck as well as he could do. A single strand of hair stuck to his forehead as he apparently hadn't taken care of his hair yet; what a rare sight. His face had regained colour from what Maya could tell from yesterday. Maya could watch the fabric of his t-shirt tightening around his biceps as he lifted the cup to his lips again. T-shirt. Wait. “Where's your jacket?”

“Dunno, I'm a vivid sleeper.”, he simply answered. His voice was deep, throaty from sleep – who was she kidding, he always sounded like that; Maya didn't mind. He shrugged, and the siren drew her attention back on her drink. The hot fluid did its best to warm her up; it was less successful in doing so in its taste, but Maya could appreciate anything energizing in the morning. First sun rays were crawling across the icy veld, causing it's surface to shimmer in the faint orange light.

“How are you feeling?”, she asked. Axton gulped down another mouthful before responding. “My beauty sleep always works miracles. As ya can see, clearly.” He grinned, running his hand over the stubble on his chin, shooting her a leer. Maya returned it, hers more of a grimace than a smirk. “You could use some, too.”, the soldier added, already ducking. Maya's cup landed in a pile of snow behind him.

“Clean yourself up properly and we're talking.”, she scoffed, beckoning him to pick up the cup before opening the interface of her inventory in order to prepare for their decampment.

“Shit, is there more? And I worked on gussyin' myself up for ya all mornin'...”, he mourned theatric, his words merely ending in a grunt as he bent down to pick up the cup, rubbing at his chin aimlessly. When he heard a suppressed snort, he put on an exaggerated pout. “Instead of makin' fun of me why don't ya help me? We don't want to scare off the bandits with that ugly face, do we?”

“Can't, I'm organizing.”

With a few steps he reached her, pushing himself between Maya and the interface. “Fire sniper, burning smg, repeater, repeater – you're welcome. Now give me a hand.”

Maya sighed demonstratively but closed her interface, grabbing the tissue he handed her and proceeded to wipe at the shade of a lone blood stain on his jawline.  
“You should pick up shaving yourself again, might get confused with a Bullymong out here.”, she taunted, her warm, visible breath swirling around them.  
“Don't wanna get started on your legs then...” Axton's chuckle faded noticeably as he, head first, dangled in the air.

***

 

The little group had assembled around their soon-to-be-abandoned fireplace, discussing their next moves. Actually; Axton was discussing their next moves and they all took his orders as they had nothing to retort, throwing in in-put here and there.

“We got a rough draft of the clan's location; I'll say we travel there together, and when we're close, split up, surround them.”, he explained, gesturing between them as the location was logged onto their echo system.

“I do think it would be beneficial if we split into small fractions as we search for the target.”, Zer0 stated, the cold showing no effect on his hollow voice.  
“Ya know there's no kiddin' 'round when Zer0 drops his Haikus!!”, Gaige giggled. The assasin shot her a glance; if you could tell the slight tilt of his helmet in her direction that.

“Verses are no war's chime / Though banter is what you wish / I do even rhyme.” A winking emoticon appearing on his helmet. “Satisfied?”

“I don't get a fuckin' word, but you're the best!!”, the mechromancer chanted and grabbed both of his hands in order to wave them around together in a little dance, leaving behind a fuddled Zer0; the only way you would tell he was, was from the question mark that flashed over his helmet.

“Repose is poison for the veins!!! Why aren't my fingers in anybody's eye socket yet!!!”

“I'll escort our lil' squallers here, we're take down their first rows”, Salvador suggested, putting one hand on Gaige's shoulder, the other one on Krieg's hip (the highest he could reach if he really tried), flinching as Krieg grabbed and squeezed it anticipatingly; Gaige pouted at her new nickname.

“Excellent. Then Zer0's keeping watch as always. Save the best for the last – Pandora's power couple will be intervening after you three started the first attack to distract them.”, Axton continued. During his words, the soldier wrapped his arm around Maya's shoulders, pulling her close with a waggish smirk. “They'll be baffled by our good chemistry.”

“The only chemistry they'll be witnessing are my corrosion grenades”, Maya remarked, elbowing his side; not hard enough to push him away, though. Axton couldn't suppress a grin at that as he continued. “So, we're set? Let's head out!”

 

Needless to say, Axton made Maya take place in the passenger's seat as they headed for their destination. They watched Gaige and Salvador's vehicles competing in a race whose only outcome they were sure were dead bodies and complaining about long walking and money. Their ways parted as they entered the Canyon, the others vanishing behind thick, tall walls of glaciers. As their path grew more and more narrow, they parked the vehicle and wandered further into the valleys of snow and ice.

In fact, Axton's nose did look red when cold. The air around them was as cold as clear, the glaciers throwing thick shadows, eliminating the already faint sun rays completely. A strand of untamed hair dangled from his hairline, the rest being slicked back neatly. The stain was still there on his jacket, although it began to fade now. He had it zipped all the way up, his jawline, the distinctive cords along his neck, the stubble that was casting over his chin like a shadow, all covered by the collar. There was no time to be puzzled about her brisk pictorial memory as she caught herself staring - Axton's lips were already curled into a grin.

“Such nice scenery here and you chose to gape at the bearded hobo.”

She liked the stubble a little bit, actually. “I was just making sure you're fine, after yesterday. We can't use any more sacrifices, as humble as it was meant of you.”, the siren countered, pulling up an eyebrow. Her flushed cheeks glowed in contrary to her pale skin and the white ice around them. “And slightly worrying about that pilot light of a nose you got there, the bandits might find us before we do.”

“I'm just blending in, the pilot light and the siren!” 

Maya didn't even know what to retort. “Wow. That was one of your all-time-lows.”

“Come on, I've waited for months to pull that one!”, he laughed, nudging her shoulder. “I think I'm getting' pretty good at this. Whoa, you got one hell of a goosebump”, he added. 

“Yeah, sure. I'm fine”, Maya countered, lifting her hands.

“Don't fuck with me, you're already all blue-shit, hold on” The smirk was wiped off his face as fast as his hand was at his rifle, pulling Maya aside with the other. “My skills as Pandora's best comedian in honor, but let's not run into that posse over there...”, he murmured as they ducked behind a pile of snow.

“No shit, sherlock. What do you say, same procedure?” Maya glanced at him; the ghostly glow of her unclothed arm illuminating the ice. 

“As every time.”, Axton endorsed with a grin, reaching into his pocket.

In a matter of second the small troop was erased off the planets surface; the dark sphere of Maya's phaselock had already vanished as the turret had wiped out its bounded. They stepped out of their cover, exchanging a quick fist-bump before looting the remains. They were done quickly as all what they found was some change, grotty weapons and an alarming big collection of dirty literature; Maya shoved some of the coins into her pocket as something shimmering in the snow caught her attention.

“Shit, look at that. One of them had an engagement ring.” She turned the attire in her fingers. Now that she thought about it, it looked kind of familiar - “Thats, uhm. That's mine, actually.”

Maya cocked her head, looking up to him as he walked over, clearing his throat; hand reaching out to her, palm facing upwards. “Can I-?”

The ring. The one thing missing in her image earlier, always dangling around his neck. Chewing her lip, Maya forced herself to a grin. “There it goes, Lieutenant Loot, always saving the jewellery first before helping a Lady up.”, she taunted, slipping the ring into his opened hand, saluting with the other.

“Haha, yeah. Guess that's me.” His laugh faded a little too soon. Axton fumbled the the ring in his hands before shoving it into his pocket. His grip felt lose and cold as he pulled her on her feet. He opened his interface, studying the path before they went on, eyes concentrated at the map, glued to the path before him as they went on walking. Maya stared at the back of his head as they wandered in silence, the faint crunch of their footsteps echoing from the glacier's walls as the only sound surrounding them now. Maya rubbed at her uncovered arm, shivering slightly. The warmth at her cheeks was gone.

For minutes, they did not talk a word until Maya cleared her throat. “Axton.”

He didn't turn around to her. “At your service?”

“Why do you still have it?”

“Have what?” He let out a breathy laugh that sounded more like a huff than his usual chuckle.

“You know what I mean.” She could tell he could feel her gaze prying on him from the way his shoulders stiffened. His usual lax way of walking was jagged as he turned around to her; the grin on his face was the usual; his voice was sharp. “Care to explain, then?”

“The wedding ring. I was just wondering. You always told us you left her.” Her voice was boiling beneath the surface. She couldn't tell what it was, but she felt warm again. Warmth in the pit of her stomach, on her cheeks. But it wasn't the pleasant prickling from before; it felt dull, almost like a sting.

“I just...kept it. Ya could make good money out of it, with the diamond and everythin'. Why do you ask?” His eyes locked on hers; there was a slight furrow between his eyebrows that didn't quite fit in with the grin on the rest of his face.

“Sorry to bother”, Maya said a little too quick. “Let's get moving, we don't want to let the others wait, do we?”

They did not let the other's wait; in the contrary, they arrived at their destination earlier than expected. Axton seemed to have calculated more time that they'd needed anyways, but Maya didn't care to ask by now. To mess around, probably. Sightseeing. Normally, the siren would have appreciated that calmly.

They had settled at the outcome of their path between the glaciers; there was a flat surface of ice, first roofs could be seen in the distance. The others had confirmed their status a few minutes ago. The sniper she had examined that with lay in her lap as it was her turn to keep an eye on the base. The sun was low already and long shades crawled across the flat. She bit her lip in order to suppress another shiver as she felt a rough cloth being draped over her shoulders softly; Axton let himself drop on the ice next to her, crossing his legs. Their arms were lightly touching; his elbow brushing at the military cloth that covered her tattoed arm now. He sat there in his T-shirt, observing the icy flat like it was some sandy beach back in the highlands. His stupid, slightly-too-tight T-shirt. Maya closed her fingers around the seam of the jacket, wondering from where she knew that rough material on her skin.

“You're good at hiding your freezing ass, but I'm better.”, he said with his stupid, hoarse voice. “Thank me later.”

“Dream on.”, Maya scoffed. They were gazing at the flat in front of them, steam rising from the roofs, how the clouds slowly drifted across the horizon. Their arms brushed once more, neither of them bothering to move theirs away now. 

In an icy desert like that, every source of heat is highly welcomed, after all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things never go down like you want them to.

The others sure took their time, but in return, they provided them a hell of a show Frostburn Canyon hadn't seen since their alleged attack on the Firehawk. The blood of their enemies dyed the snow dark red, and occasionally, the glimpse of the sun's reflection flashed over to them when Gaige deployed her Death Trap. Krieg's exclamations were carried out far by the wind, ending up as a racous bawling, and Salvador was busting out a second gun anytime he could. They backed each other up, cleared out row after row in swift movements. They played together as a n ideal team of up front raid and destruction. Axton and Maya had joined them after the first wave, taking out another one on their own as the commando played their surprise factor card.Usually not being the ones for a stealth attack, there was in fact good chemistry between them – regarding the murdering, at least. What Maya lacked in ravage was made up by her tactics; and well, Axton was capable of both. 

Approaching the rest of their team from the other side, they slowly encircled the last groups of enemies as the sun was just setting. The last body hit the ground as the sun was just setting. Zer0 was confirming that the area was deserted out from his look-out; he was already heading back to Sanctuary in order to shelter the remaining captives of the human trafficking scheming and to receive further objectives. This was when they lifted their blood covered fists in the air, everyone exhausted and tired, but satisfied.

Leaving the small sheds behind, they strolled across the wide flat, heading into the direction of the nearest Travel Station. They laughed, going over the events of the day, reminiscing their best moves. Salvador was bragging about the number of his kill as usual; his argument with Gaige wether the kills of her Death Trap were counted for her was usual, too. As rare the sight of Krieg having a conversation was, as interesting it was to follow it. He hummed an irregular tune, exchanging the experiences on today's battlefield with Maya in between. Although the team all got used to the psycho's odd enunciation; after all, everyone of them behaved odd in some way, but they grew together on that; the siren still seemed to be the most funded with it. Right now, she was laughing as Krieg attempted to describe her one particular well-done kill, running her gloved hand through her hair. Her other arm was pressed close to her body, hand buried in her pocket. She still wasn't admitting, but Axton recognized the goose bumps on her skin. He had in fact always wondered how they would look, covered in those blue marks. Her shoulders were drawn up slightly, probably in order to conceal the occasional shivers. The only reason Axton did not practically throw his jacket over her slim frame – Maya wouldn't accept it now, anyways - were several missing chunks on his back, where Krieg's not-so-friendly fellows had tore it open. A quick phaselock had stopped them from doing so though, and after a medi kit Axton was as good as new – and he had to return a favor, didn't he?

As Krieg was strolling over to the gunzerker and mechromancer and the three of them began to crack their usual jokes, he noticed Maya rubbing over her exposed skin quickly. She was one stubborn piece of woman, he had to admit. In an instant, the soldier sped up his pace, throwing an arm around the siren's waist, pulling her close.

“Second best hero of the day, how you feeling after fighting among the side of Pandora's best-lookin' commando?”, he chanted, gesturing with his other arm. Maya visibly flinched, but didn't seem to mind her new company. At least, Axton hoped so.

“I saved your ass out there today, glad you noticed”, she taunted, bumping her hip into his. Their pace was adapting, and they strolled along the others like that. After all, body heat was something you could always use in a cold like this; Maya seemed to agree to that, letting him pull her close again after the colliding brought some inches between them. “You should rethink your second-best shit, because without me, you'd have taken that psycho's axe right to the face.”

“My name isn't Ax-ton for nothin'.”

“...”

“Sorry.”

“You're getting worse everyday, maybe I should actually let someone split your skull, maybe there's something stuck up there.” She flicked against his forehead with her fingers. The motion made her lean into him a bit, and they staggered to the side slightly; Axton laughed. 

“Tell me what could stop ya from that, kinda attached to my life here”, he said, rubbing at the spot.

“Just a few more free drinks at the bar and we're even.”, she responded with a grin.

He brushed across her unclothed arm in an attempt to warm her up a bit. The siren tilted her head slightly until her temple rested against his shoulder. “Yeah... 'Think we can arrange that.”

Salvador and Gaige were arguing over who deserved it better to be carried by Krieg since the Catch-A-Ride wasn't exactly around the next corner as Mordecai rang them up. Krieg stopped the bickering by grabbing both of them at their collars and tore them away from each other.

“'Hey, amigos! Your creepy poetry friend arrived here safely, Lilly is already caring for the victims – thank god we didn't leave them alone with Tannis, she'd only scare them even more – oops, wait a sec.” There was some rustling; Mordecai was turning around,shouting at someone at the other end of the room. “No, Brick, I dunno where your apron is, I'm kinda busy right now, just bring them the food – sorry 'bout that. A few of you might have to go back and take care of, uh, let's call it, paperwork. In order to enable them a normal life, as normal as possible I mean, we need to get their passports and shit. They're likely to not have thrown it away since they need it for the trading.”

An annoyed grunt was coming out of Gaige's direction. “Paperwork, boooooo-ring!! I just wanna hit the bed now, I can't even keep my eyes open...” She groaned, dangling from Krieg's grip, rubbing her eyes.

“The burning tide of flames inside of me - soothed!! Now just a nap to quiet the voices...” That was his way of agreeing with her, appereantly. Salvador was already snoring.

“We're on it”, Axton said quickly, glancing at Maya. “If Zer0's applying, tell him he deserves a rest too.”, he added with a lower voice. The siren shrugged at him – her shoulder nudging into his in the process - mouthing a 'Sure – why not', and Axton winked at her gratefully, already transferring the new mission's information into his Echo system. Not like he would have left her a choice, anyway.

Mordecai sighed of relief. “Sure, will do. Thanks guys, your help really is appreciated. Ring me up when you have the stuff.”

Axton assured him that and they ended the connection. Hurrying after the others as they arrived at the Catch-A-Ride where Gaige was ordering her signature pink rocket launcher vehicle. He let Maya slip out of his arm, letting his hand run down her wrist, brushing over the back of her hand with his thumb quickly before pulling away. She turned him her back after that, heading in the direction of the other vehicle, saying her good-byes; she really must be cold, with red ears like that.

Axton pulled his other hand out of his pocket, selecting a ride on the Catch-A-Ride himself; another vehicle appeared out of thin air.

“Looks like our ways part again here guys!”, he declared as he walked around it, leaning against the driver's door. “Make sure to save us a drink or two. If we make it back by today.” Gaige waved at him, Krieg showed him two thumbs up, and Salvador - hit the hay on the back seat. That guy must have been giving his all today. Or taken a hard hit to the head – not like he'd ever admit.

The pink vehicle was veering away from them, slowly being swallowed by the dust the tires were dispersing in the snow. The flat was dipped into a dimmed orange; the rest of light that made its way over the glaciers, since the sun hung low on the horizon already. Axton's hand was on the car's door handle, when another pale one appeared out of nowhere, slapping his away.

“I didn't mention my terms and conditions for this mission.”, she stated merely than asking him, “I'll only come with you if I get to drive.”

“Hate to throw you off, but the objective is collectin' stuff, not commitin' suicide”, Axton proclaimed with a raised eyebrow; a look up into her determined mine made him sigh. “Allright. Just because it's you.” As her expression cleared up into a bright smile, he didn't regret it; yet. “Ya sure know how to use your abilities...”

“I just know your weak spots.”, she countered, already climbing into the driver's seat. Axton strolled around the vehicle, sliding into the passenger's seat. They had time, he told himself. No need to rush anything; no need to give her an opportunity to to so.

 

She was finding that opportunity herself, as it seemed – the next instant, they dashed across the icy flat. Axton now regretted his decision.

“Holy shit, did they teach you how to drive at the abbey at all?!”He rose his voice over the noise of the airstream rushing past them.

“No, why do you ask?”, Maya shouted. Her grip on the steering wheel looked almost cramped, but she seemed to enjoy herself as she was grinning widely. “The door's right there!”

“Nevermind, I'm good”, the soldier sighed, clinging to his seat.

“Didn't you tell us you failed all of your driving exams at the military, too? So you're one to talk, loser.”

Axton shrugged, pulling a painful grimace as they bumped over a flat rock, ungently landing on the slippery surface again. “I just wasn't good at takin' orders from someone in the back, yellin' at you for the whole test. I was just nervous.” In fact, he had deliberately driven the car into a solid wall. “I guess.” Maya quickly shot him a doupting expression at that and Axton flinched finding her eyes not glued to the landscape rushing in front of them.

“If you're so horrified of my driving skills, you'd make better at teaching me some.”, the siren simply stated. “If I'm not too hard of a challenge for your patience, that is.”

“Nah, you're just an insecure person, it's allright!”, he laughed. “It's much better now, if I think about our first ride together...”, he trailed off, turning to her to watch for her reaction; Maya though, didn't seem to have heared the last bit. Her eyes were concentrated on a point before them, brows pulled into a frown. “Maya?”

“Am I.”, she uttered; her eyes glazed, although eyeing the landscape still, carefully.

Axton stared at her, his laugh frozen. “Are what?”

She didn't answer right away at that. Axton put his grin back on, trying to push away the strange feeling that was forming in his stomach now. “Anyways, if we're doin' that you need to-”  
“You're more into the determined ones, then.”, she avered. Axton felt his brows knitting into a frown as well.

“The- uhm. Actually, I'm not. What do you mean?”

“So what was she, then? If marrying one's boss isn't the sign for an authority fetish, I can't help you...”

“The heck, Maya, what are you talkin' 'bout? We spent a whole evening ramblin' about that, I thought you knew-”

“Yeah, I get it, she left you.”, Maya cut him off. “And you're over her, so much that you still carry that ring around with you.”

Axton felt a cold shiver running down his spine. Her words pierced him like stings to his chest. “I-”, he began, cleared his throat. “I don't think that's any of your concern.” He couldn't go on again and over that topic another time. Of course she wouldn't understand; he didn't even do so himself. There was no way he could explain anything to her; so he just did not. He dug his nails into the cushion of his seat. “I. I thought my intentions here were clear.”

“I thought they were, yeah. Until today.”

“I don't see you helpin' here with anythin' though”, he added with a hoarse voice. The wind that rushed at them felt cold on his skin. As soon as he spoke out those words, he winced. Damn, why couldn't he keep his mouth shut one time. “W-wait, I didn't mean to-”

“I'm not the most self-reliant person, I know that”, Maya said with a firm voice, eyes focusing on the street. “Thats what I was taught all my life. They teached me that, at the abbey. No Maya, don't get too full of yourself. You need to be a serene, kind leader, never needing to decide anything. Don't worry too much, my child. Don't worry about it.” Axton glanced at her and found her lips pressed together, gritting her teeth. “Bad idea to go out there all by yourself, my child. So many dangers! So many strangers. You will never need anyone besides us, my child. Don't do this, don't do that, my child, my child, my child!” Her voice raised to a riled groan. The commando watched her pressing out those last words from her gritted teeth. Something shimmered in the corner of her eye – “Maya-” was that-? 

“A goddess isn't loved, she's only worshipped.” Her knuckles grew white from the strength of her grip on the steering wheel; she was shouting over the noise of the wind around them, her voice cracking slightly. Axton opened his mouth again, “If I'm not fucking able to be loved,” - she turned towards him, her red eyes shimmering wetly in the vehicle's headlights - “I at least wanna make sure that y-”

The shattering noise of the impact drowned out her voice, the two of them being thrown forwards as they hit the barrade. Axton felt his head hit the instruments and at the same time being pressed into his seat, a sharp pain flaring up; then, the overtaking dark.

***

The ache was pulsing at his temples, slowly spreading and amplifying by doing so with every inch of his veins. His chest felt crushed, sore. The dark was fading slowly, thus leaving room for the unshirkable pain running through his entire body now.

Entire? Well-

His fingers twitched; trying to pry open his eyes, Axton gasped for a breath. His lungs burned when the cold air entered them. He pushed away the darkness further, but it wasn't quite working – he felt himself writhe, turning over on his side; bad decision. He mouthed a quiet “Fuck!”, blinking at the annoyingly bright enclosing surrounding him. He couldn't make out all of it – dark chunks against white background, lumps of black, grey, and - “Maya!!”

He forged into the direction of that patch of blue, straining an arm above his head, trying to reach her. He pressed out another curse as he realized that she was too far away. He liftes up his head now, squinting at the view around him, feeling of all of limbs slowly coming back to him.

He had no idea where he was, the less did he know why he was – the one thing very certain was; he would never let that woman tough a steering wheel again.

“Axton?” He winced at the faint sound of her voice; she sounded as bad as he felt. “F-fuck, are you-” Her voice was fluttering, a bit too high for her usual tone. Axton propped himself up until he could see her.

“I'm right here. I'm fi- I'm, uh... existent”, he corrected himself, groaning as he tried to shift himself around to her. The metallic taste of blood lingered in his mouth. “Did we- did we fucking crash?”

“We-... I think we did... We crashed... I crashed the car-” The words were tumbling out of her mouth; Axton could hear the alarm that raised her voice like that. “Axton, fuck, what do we do-”

“Hey, hey, easy”, he grunted; he already managed to drag himself across the snow one inch. “Just tell me how you're feeling and we'll figure this out.”

Nothing was going through his head at the impact; now, he was flooded with questions. He did not allow a single one to occur to his mind, for now, though; he locked eyes with Maya instead, or with the blue blurr where he thought, she must be.

“Holy fuck Axton, your ey-”

“Tell me how you feel”, he repeated with gritted teeth. Maya fell silent, as if going through options in her head.

“I'm- I'm hurting pretty much, I feel numb, and I can't really feel my legs-”, she began. Her voice sounded throaty and sore. Axton urged himself across the ground, the cold snow burning on the skin of his forearms. He felt a bit weird for using the technique he learned in military on Maya – keeping victims distracted, as good as you could – at least one thing that came in handy after all those years, he thought to himself.

When he finally reached her, Maya was laying flat onto her back, cocking back her head in order to look at him. A streak of red was running down through the contrast of her blue hair, her pale skin dusty and ashen. Axton couldn't deny anymore the black veil that was running through his field of vision, covering where once was his entire right side of view. With one shivering hand, he was reaching for his temple – he met warm fluids. “Damn, girl. You really fucked us up, didn't you.”

Maya was trying her hardest to keep her composure together, he could tell that. As for the tears, she seemed to have given up. He couldn't help but smile a little at that – his smile grew wider than expected though, and he snorted. A second later, he was bursting into laughter.

“And- and I told you it was a bad idea to let you drive.”, he puffed; Maya watched him dumbfounded until he got himself together. “I can't believe this happened. I'll tell this one forever, every night at the bar from now on.

“I'm sorry- This is my fault, if would have payed attention to-”

“This is nobody's fault.”, Axton shut her up, wiping away a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye.

“You look like shit.”, she said; expression pulled into a pout. He grinned. There was his girl.

“Sure do. Now, let's get this over with”, he grunted, propping himself into a sitting position. Reaching into his pocket, he realized – they were empty.

“Fuck, do ya have anything with you?”, he cursed, patting the floor around him in order to seatch for their weapons.

“No...”, came a faint response from the siren's direction. Axton was still searching, now patting his jacket.

“Any health kits? Would make this whole thing a lot easier...”, he uttered; Maya shook her head. She let her gaze slip over the ground around them, until - “Ew, what the fuck! Your leg!”  
Axton looked downwards; a few inches beneath his hip, his pants were ripped open for a good chunk, exposing skint hat was ripped apart too. “Uhm. Allright, hadn't had that before.”, he asserted calmly.“Could've prepared me for that at Dahl”, he murmured as he heared Maya suppress a gag. “God, pull yourself together, you act like you've never seen an injury.”

“Just never saw one from this close”, she tried to talk her way out of it; he eliminated her try with a raise of his eyebrow. Resignating, Maya groaned, propping herself up now as well. Axton could now distinguish her condition. She looked fine at first, minor injuries covering her upper body, a bleeding wound right above her temple, but that was it. Her legs though were covered by a particularly big chunk of steel, a part that must have been their vehicle once, thus trapping her in that position. Axton was in fact more than relieved that she was fine other than that.

She cleared her throat. “I- I see some bullymongs over there, If I can phaselock them, we can gain a bit of our health back”, she explained, concentrating on a point behind Axton.

The relief of the energy flowing through him as Maya locked the first enemy was overwhelming; the soldier felt better right away, taking a deep breath. They stayed in silence for the process, until Maya sagged back to the floor, letting her unclothed arm fall beside her loosely.

Axton glanced at her exhausted expression, though a bit of colour seemed to have returned to her cheeks. Her brows were furrowed, eyes squeezed shut. 

She opened them as she heard him rustling. Axton crawled across the floor; it must have looked ridiculous, but he couldn't care less at that point. With that, he had managed to pull a smile off of Maya's worried face; he let himself drop onto his back beside her. As he turned his head towards her, a few of his strands brushed across her temple. Their shoulders bumped together as he was pressing close to her. He felt for the warmth of her body besides him, fingers brushing over her forearm. He entwined their fingers, took her hand with both of his. He felt her ease against him, and sensed a bit of relief himself.

“So, what now?”, she asked calmly, glancing at him from the side.

“Now we gotta think of something if we don't want to spend days out here until we starved or died from dehydration”, Axton explained dryly. “What leads us to discuss who has to respawn.” He noticed Maya hesitating for the split of a second before answering.

“The only thing I have here is the repeaters, I'm out of ammo on them.”, she said, turning one of them around in her hand; the other one lay on the ground a few feet away from her, out of her reach. She dropped it beside her. “Useless. Thanks to you suggesting me to select two of them for today, genius...”

“Remember that one night, when I made you chug a little too many shots and you swore to never trust me again when you run into that pole on our way home? Seems like your drunk self is more responsible than sober you”, he chuckled, earning a nudge to the ribs; he grunted as she hit a sore spot. He didn't blame her, though – his whole body was one huge, sore spot.  
“What kind of commando are you anyway, leaving your weapons out of sight like that? Where's the turret? Anything we could use?”

Axton shot her a derided look. “Well, if any of the other weapons didn't break during the impact, they've been hurled hundreds of feet away, covered in snow. But go search for them if you want.”   
She looked at her legs, trapped under the carcass of their vehicle; then back to him, grinning with grim amusement. “Fuck you. How about you take a good look around here since I'm kinda busy here.”

Axton blinked; the black veil was still immersing half of his field of vision into black. “Touché. I'm kiddin', you're my favorite cripple.”

“How many cripples do you even know?”

“Well, Mister Stapleface was a cripple underneath this mask after all, and if I had to choose who to invite for diner... Actually might have to think about this one”, he added with a grin.  
“Axton!” She shot him a half-assed frigid look for that, though not drawing back; soldier felt one of her strands brush against his neck as she turned her head towards the sky again. He could see her lips curling upwards the slightest way; a detail he had often overlooked when they first met. He remembered how he had tried figuring out her expressions, reactions. He tended to do that with everyone, taking it as a challenge – and damn, that siren had been a hard one to figure out, and still was to that day. He watched her gazing at the night sky, shoulder to shoulder, with that almost invisible smile of hers. After all, Axton always loved a good challenge.

“My bad, sometimes I forget Ladies are present here”, he mocked. The snow was slowly soddening the layers of fabric at his back, and with it the cold all around began to sting on his skin. He suppressed a shiver, staring at the tops of the glaciers above them where a glimpse of the night sky glistered between the iced peaks. Like that, he appreciated the subtle warmth spread by the body beside him even more; their hands lay between them, her slender pale one curled against his own. Those frail hands, capable of bringing hundreds their last breaths, feeling so tender between his fingers. How did she manage to maintain her skin that soft anyway?

“Your side lady here would kill for a drink... I'm starting to feel my legs again, but I'll admit I was better off without that...” A frown was darkening her face; Axton could tell she was trying to black out the pain.

“You're jammed underneath a car with your good-looking saviour right at your side and all you care about is a drink? Never thought I'd be outdone by alcohol...”, he jeered, propping up on his ellbow. The motion made their hands shift a little and he could feel her grip on his hand tighten slightly.

“Then think of a better way to distract me, this hurts like shi-”

Axton was already lingering above her; the slight sensation of her warm breath on his skin against the cold around them, face only inches away from hers, when -   
“Allright allright allright, enough flirting for today, blegh!” 

Axton flinched, sitting up quickly; that was Gaige's voice, shrilling over their echo. The siren winced at his sudden movement, not seeming to have realized how close he was just a second ago. The shadow that Axton's figure casted on her was dimming the red of her cheeks; Axton wasn't noticing that anymore as he concentrated on the Echo frantically now. “Finally, it's connecting! We were tryin' for freakin' ages!! Allow me a sec to ask you what the fuck happened to you?! We searched the whole canyon for you, there was no signal!! You scared the livin' shit outa all of us, you freakin' bastards!!”

Axton sighed. He felt Maya's eyes on him and turned to her, shooting her a helpless shrug.

“I wasn't interrupting anythin', was I, because after hours and hours of tryin' and finally connecting you still don't answer!!!”

“Nice to hear from ya too, Gaige.”, he answered, suppressing a grin. “Yeah, we... kinda got off the path. Might have slipped into some gully that's not marked on the map, though... Could you come and get us?”

“That looks like a hell of a walk, I'm not promising”, Gaige stated. “Just kiddin'. You alright? We're getting' ready to get you out of there, but you'll have to think of something to pass your time. For a few hours...?” 

“Just cut down on the side missions and hurry your arses here, Maya's injured pretty badly”, the commando snarled.

“No chance darlin', when I said a few hours I talked about when we leave, like, right now.”

Axton groaned. What were the odds, exactly?”

There was another voice being transferred via the echo; a rough voice with an accent. “Tell 'em to just respawn, geez, where's the deal.”

“We can't, our weapons are either burried under fuckloads of snow or outa ammo. Grenades 'r gone too, I checked. We couldn't even kill ourselves even if we wanted to.”, he added, glancing at Maya; the siren hat shut her eyes again.

“Cant you just … I dunno... choke yourself or stop breathing or somethin'?” Gaige said that with that slight lack of interest as if she would talk about choosing where to eat for diner.  
“Ever tried to tickle yourself? Did that work?”

“...No?”

“Yeah, thats about how well choking yourself will work, dumbass.”

“Gaige, couldn't you just code your arm to choke y-”

“Shut the heck up Sal, im on the phone!!!...where was I. Uhm... Just choke each other? Maybe you find out about your hidden fetish as a side effect.” 

Axton threw another glance at Maya. His gaze was slipping to her pale neck that was mostly exposed to the faint light that slipped through the peaks above them. There was no way he pressed something other on there than his lips, and hell, he wouldn't do this to Maya, making her choke a teammate.

“...We're too far away from each other. Just hurry aight'?” He ended the connection before Gaige could add anything, then turning around to Maya again. The siren was lying on her back still, eyes closed.

He groaned. “They're right... Maybe I should just respawn and get you myself. Would spare us a little waiting, at least.” 

He felt her hand tightening again around his, the tips of her fingers slightly digging into the back of his hand.

“I promise I'll hurry, that pain must suck ass-”

“It's not- It's fine”, she stammered. He eyed her as she was staring up into the sky above them, lips pressed together. The frown on her face told him otherwise; her shoulders were drawn together slightly, and her other hand was clenched into a fist. “You don't have to go yet.”

“You're a bad liar.”

“Yeah.” No comeback, no sneaky grin. She never was the one to show her discomfort openly, on purpose at least, but there were other signs to be interpreted, and right now, his discretion told him that there was not so much time to fool around any more.

Axton got up one one knee, balancing for a moment. “I'll be back in no time. After I found at least one gun around here I can take a shortcut to the travel station and then get some help.”

“I won't let you go through that hell again only to help me out of my own trouble”, she pressed through gritted teeth. He slipped his hand out of her grip warily before standing up.

“Always generous, even through a car crash. That's my girl. It's my pleasure.”, the commando cracked a grin, patting some snow off his uninjured leg. 

“No really, you don't have to-”

“You can check on me via Echo anytime.”, he offered, fumbling with the busted zipper on his jacket. “If you need anythin', just ring me up.”

A pale hand reached for his zipper and caught the seam of his jacket instead; his hands hovered in front of his body, zipper long forgotten. Maya had propped up herself on her arms now, her body shifted to face him as good as she could – her other hand clasping the snow beneath her, her face immersed into an expression Axton didn't recognize. 

“I won't make you go through this whole pain-of-actual-dying-shit over a mistake I made - again”, she pressed out, voice shaking slightly. “I don't have my regulate honest hours, so please-” - she tugged at his jacket - “stay here.”

She had been at his side taking down Pandora's most powerful antagonist, standing up against thousands and thousands of bandits and enemies, risking her life for her teammates and the rebellion without the bat of an eye; and now, barely being able to reach up to him, legs crushed by a car ravage and every colour drained out of her face from pain, that woman still managed to care more about a sarcastic commando at that point. Axton shook his head.

“Even the mightiest sirens have their closing hours.”, he conveyed, though already getting on his knees again.

“Good, then I'm clearly out”, she retorted; some of the words died in her throat.

“Not if you ask me.” 

They layed beside each other again, facing the clear sky above them like they did just moments ago. Maya's voice almost didn't carry through the cold as her voice was merely not more than a huff.

“Thank you.”

'Welcome.', he mouthed; the embrace he tugging her in was his answer enough. 

 

They remained like that for a while – Axton's sense of time seemed to be gone with the crash. He held the siren in his arms, listening to her calm breathing that warmed his chest where she had buried her face in his jacket. Her voice was still low and hoarse when she chimed in, but not shaking anymore.

“Axton... Can I tell you about something that bothers me since quite a time?”

“Sure, you always can. What is it?”

The siren cleared her throat. She slipped away from him; Axton couldn't help but yearn for the absent warmth, though she remained right beside him.

“It may sound stupid but – since that incident, since opening the vault, I cant get Jacks words out of my head. There was that feeling, always accompanying me. It was there even before I left the abbey. I learned to live with it, to accept it; there's only surviving that matters after all. That's what I told myself every time I blew someones head off. But in jacks last moments, what he said – the thoughts of the most twisted mind of them all confirmed me. If he thought he was a hero and we were the bad guys, so who says everything what I do is justifiable? Who says at some points I could just have chosen not to bust that persons head, to ravish through crowds of rebels and bandits, as I call them to legitimate my actions. Some of them gape at me like I was the freaking Messiah when they beg for their lives, choking on their own blood. Others fear me like death himself. I don't know who of those or anything in between I even am, Axton. It just feels all so licentious.”

His gaze lingered on her for the full length of her confession. His look was appreciative, without the simplest hint of a mock.“Who are you pretending to be good for?”

Maya hesitated. “I don't know. I know I cant save the whole world, that's ridiculous... but I could do my best. And I just didn't. There were times where I just couldn't do anything. I stood and watched Roland die. I watched Lilith getting captivated; I was unable to do anything against it.”

“And it happened. Who are you justifying for?”

“I don't know. I don't know what I want out of this, I don't know what I want at all.”

“Then let it go.”

She let out a light huff. “You say that so easily...”

“You know.” Axton took a deep breath. He turned away his head; their shoulders bumped lightly as he did so. “Listen close now, because you might never get that opportunity again.”  
He could feel her eyes on him, closed his eyes for a second – that woman was definitely his death.

“I never talked about that to anyone, ever. Not even Moxxi. That's one thing her wicked drinks can't coax out of me.” … “I know I play all buff and sarcastic around everyone. But there are nights where I lay in my bed, and I just can't fall asleep. I think about everything in the world and nothing at the same time; decisions, choices, the aftermath of every tiny option I chose. I think about me leaving the military for a devastated, rumored planet and how bad of an idea it was. I think about paths of my life I don't know the outcome if I had decided otherwise. There's always so much 'if', and 'when', and 'but'. I didn't even come to Pandora for wealth and luxus in the first place – don't look so surprised. I came here because I wanted to clear my mind from that shit because it gnawed on me everyday. Wonder that I survived the first week, reckless how I was. But I grew with that damn place. It made me rethink my evaluations. I learned that this world isn't about being good and doing the right thing. There is no such thing as the 'right' to do. Everybody has a shitload of skeletons in the closet. Fuck me if I ain't right but - even Roland did. And there's no one out here who can claim that of himself, and I have met emperors, Vault Hunters, hell I met like three goddesses and I'm not even turnin' 40 yet.” He laughed lightly. “I know I can't claim that of myself. Lost my chance a long, long time ago. I know I'm a dickhead most of the time, I talk shit, I'm messy, fuck I even drink on some missions. I make wrong decision after wrong decisions. But I guess I just gotta roll with it.”

For a moment, he did not dare to turn his head back at her; they just remained in silence, until he slowly tilted his head, to find her lean in for him. She pressed her lips on his temple softly, lingering there for a second before drawing back.

“Don't make yourself any worse than you are just to make me feel better”, was all she said.

After all there was something even a New-U-Station couldn't quite cure.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every cloud has a silver lining. (This one's one of the chapters most fun to write. I think you will get why, I'll go rot in hell now)

Axton had already mentally bid a farewell to his buttocks since he had no feeling in almost any of his limbs after several hours out in the cold in his constitution; his jacket was wrapped around Maya's shoulders, who clung to his chest quiescently, the only indicator of her being okay the irregular shivers that shook her every now and then.

There was no doubt these missions would remain in his memory as one of the slightly less successful days in his carrier as a Vault Hunter as he almost bought a one way ticket twice in a comparably small amount of time – and as an experience that tested his threshold of pain all over again. Besides recovering would take them a solid few days, which meant no missions, and missions meant no challenges, and Axton loved his challenges – however, in spite of everything the commando was, regarding the circumstances, quite complacent.

Just when he had closed his eyes, convinced he would not survive another second resisting the indispensable urge to let the sweet release of sleep carry him away from the cold, the ache, and probably physically from Maya and towards a New-U-Station, he felt ungentle hands grab his arms and shake him vigorously before another pair of hands freed him from the grip. He couldn't quite decide what alarmed him more, how gruffly his teammates handled half-dead people or that it could be anybody approaching them, helpless, since he didn't notice anything until they were right in his face. When they heaved his body into the waiting car he couldn't care less though; but not before making sure they didn't pull the same treatment on Maya. 

Their way back remained in his memory as a blur. With his already restricted ability to see he wasn't necessarily better off to that while Maya seemed to have passed out completely; couldn't hold that against her after all, from what he could make out of the remains of her legs as they dragged her out of the car's ravage; the more surprised was he to learn later that none of his teammates drew genitalia and curse words with a permanent marker on their faces. They must have looked really bad considering that bunch of weirdos passed a chance like that. The only thing that had him sure they weren't bailed out by just anyone but by their fellow Vault Hunters were the snippets of their conversation he picked up.

“Dun' tell me we drove out here all for nothin', they ain't movin' a bit.”

“Ugh Sal how often do we gotta tell you, if they're dead they teleport away, no bodies duuuh”

“How do ya now, how can ya check if you're knocked out and go back to ya body and-”

“Philosophical / Aren't we today. Must say / Out of all, you, Sal?”

“Shut the fuck up ya weird alien scu-”

“Free the marrow!!! I can sense them clamor in pain!!! Just like I do after the nightfall...”

“Krieg's right, they're just unconscious. Idiot, how can your body lie around when you already respawned!! We're the only bright lights here, right, girlfriend?”

“Deeply sorry to intermit your controversy – though is the real question here, how and what did it all result in ...this?”

***

...A question that, as much as Axton wanted, he could not answer – both physically and notional. As he awoke in the headquarters, he didn't really feel like he got some rest, as those words whirred around in his dazed mind keeping him in a strange stage between sleep and awareness. He brushed it off as an annoying product of his injuries and opened his eyes.

He lay on his back in one of the bunk beds on the upper floor, shielded from the noise and hustle downstairs; someone had even closed the door. He stretched his neck, examining the room around him, searching for something blue almost instinctively, automatically. He was alone – but at least he learned that Dr. Zed seemed to have fixed his vision as he spotted a pile of dirty, blood-soaked clothes on the opposite bed. A pair of plain pants, ripped, drenched in blood, along with a pair of small boots, neatly folded and stacked. He cracked a smirk; that was the proof, as no one around here would waste the glimpse of a thought to tidying up their stuff, especially not in a condition like that – except for his very favourite siren.

The soldier pushed himself up into a sitting position, carefully straining his muscles few at a time, testing out his agility. The burning pain that had numbed all of his limbs just hours ago now felt like a strong muscle ache after one of his training sessions. Usually, he would complain how he wasn't able to walk like a normal human being for days after that - but hey, what was normal behaviour on Pandora? - besides right now, he preferred a muscle ache over a near-death-experience.

 

The doctor had appereantly patched up him up excellently, he was neither missing nor discovering any new limbs. What he did not do - and Axton was quite reliefed about that - was give him a good wash after days on the go, a car crash, and being stuck in the wreck of a car somewhere in an ice canyon. No wonder they'd mistaken him for dead, he thought to himself as he examined himself in one of the dusty mirrors. A mixture of blood and dirt covered most of his face; a dense stubble on his chin, the white of his right eye crimson red, shirt sagging in rags from his upper body. Not quite the lady killer look he usually strove for. He wondered what Maya must have looked like. If her fast recovery was merely a siren thing or if it was due to her tenacious nature, the first thing on her to-do-list after a damn car crash being cleaning up. He pushed down the warm feeling of relief and headed for the door.

It was a Friday night, or he assumed it to be, because the headquarters were practically deserted. The sweet silence, the absence of muffled soliloquy meant that even Tannis was having a fun evening outside of her precious resort. Axton could clearly use more than a drink right now, but having the whole place to oneself wasn't that bad either.

He pushed open the door to the collective showers, grabbing a more or less fresh looking towel in the process – he was sure Lilith, considering her the lesser of the evil surprises that a used towel could bring with itself, wouldn't mind - stripping his shirt on his way. He staggered a bit when if came to the pants, kicked them out of the way, and reached for the handle. As he waited for the water to turn to a temperature that didn't remind him of the uncongenial situation he was in just hours ago, he fumbled at the chain around his neck. His fingers stopped for a second as it was only for the dog tags, though he was used to undo two of them. His gaze slipped to the pair of dirty pants abandoned in the corner of the tiled room, fixing on it's pocket. 

He jerked himself away from the cloth, turning towards the warm stream. When the hot water poured down on him, he finally relaxed his muscles, closing his eyes as swirls of dirt and blood ran down the drain. The sore spots all over his body still ached, but it clearly panned out the numbness. White steam rose all around him, dipping the whole room in a blurry mist.

Axton was one of those people who when showering either came up with a magnum opus of mind about sudden inspirations or descended the abyss of the weekly midlife crisis. When the image in his mind's eye flickered back to the ring in the pocket of his pants in the corner of the room, his guess from earlier was confirmed. There were clearly more enjoyable things he could employ his mind on right now, especially having the showers, the whole headquarters all to himself – he couldn't help it.

Maya's face slipped back into his consciousness, which was, considering his earlier plans of the evening shower, a little invidious; but he did not even feel like thinking of a pun about that.  
It seemed as if he could still feel her glare sting in his back when they walked through the canyon. The chilling feeling right at the pit of his stomach that slowly spread a little further every time he had caught her glancing at him, quickly turning away when he returned the look. The very first time the fastest indentation of her pale eyes were the cold that they sent out. Her voice, menacingly rising in volume when she held forth on his comment, or merely, about the past on the drivers seat.

There were rare occasions where he had seen the siren like that. Usually, short glimpses on the battlefield, the brink of a second in a group conversation when she felt unobserved – all of them being small signs of discomfort, uncertainty he never quite understood. But never had he seen her snap like that, and he was pretty sure he said shit like that often enough to outrage her. But this time, it was different.  
He had noticed fragile reactions, instants like that about anyone in their little team with the time. It was only natural; they were not all the badasses they so often loved to depict themselves as, applying to every single one of them, including of course, King Axton of overestimating his own abilities himself. They had grown pretty open about it, open as in they did not longer care, just being themselves around the five other maniac Vault Hunters they had found friends in, and it worked pretty good. He would brood over any of them if it had come to a situation like that, he clearly would. Probably a side effect, one of his adaptations from his time at Dahl; he always had an eye on his teammates. A soldier's got to do what a soldier's got to do. In this case, it just so happened to be Maya.

He caught himself letting his thoughts wander back to that very night at the bar. The whole evening was hardly the fraction of a memory; he blamed that on the amount of alcohol they both downed that night; the only thing he remembered being one of those deep conversations, those he could conduct with any of their team, if he wanted, but were somehow reserved for - the siren. He didn't recall much, considering his heavy headache the next morning that she phaselocked him which only added up to his hangover; he really must've pissed her off again. Axton grinned to himself. The reason, though, why that memory pushed itself through, was the flash of an expression on Maya's face that became eerily familiar by now. That same, cold glare that was carved into her face when she ranted about her past. The abbey. About that fatal pendant of his own past he chose to wear around his neck and that was lingering in his pocket now.

Immersed in his elaborations, Axton almost overheared the creaking of the door if it wasn't for the frightened yelp. He nearly turned around, his defensive instincts at short notice playing off against his sense of shame; his muscle ache practically saved his life on that. He knew that voice. And he did not know if the fact that he knew that voice was making this situation any better.  
The yelp was followed by a muffled rumble, something hitting the tiled floor.

“...You okay there? Mind revealin' yourself, I'm in a bit of a scrape here”, he threw over his shoulder, not quite daring to turn even his head around. He already knew the answer anyway.  
“A-Axton?”, stuttered Maya.

“In the flesh. Literally.” He stood completely still, water dripping from the strands into his forehead, staring at the tiles on the wall in front of him. “Uh. Sorry 'bout that, didn't lock the door since I kinda felt Kevin alone around here...”

“Y...Yeah, everyone's gone. Thats why I figured I could have a few calm minutes to myself since I … uhm... am still not quite up and going. Hah.” She added a shake laugh, and Axton needed a minute to figure she must have fallen and recognize her pun as he was busy with trying to cover himself with nothing but his own hands – he failed.

“Haha, good one. You slipped or-?”

“Yeah, you really exploited your alone time and the water supplies, there are puddles at the entrance and...”

The soldier snorted. “And you considered runnin' around here by yourself, what if you slipped and I wasn't there? You can't even get up, or why aren't you out of the room screamin' yet?”  
“I don't want to rush it, okay? I can get up any time I like. I just need to-... rest a bit.”

“Sure you do”, he coaxed. If there ware just rare moments where he didn't know what to say, then there was one right now; he still did not dare to move.

“Really! Fuck, this is so awkward.”

He rolled his eyes, grinning over the shiftlessness of the siren as well as his own. “Don't shit me.”

“With your bare ass in my face that patter of yours gets to a whole new level...” Her voice was calm with a hint of sarcasm she always used in their little tiffs, but he could hear her discomfort even over the running water.

“Jesses Maya, am I the one who walked in on a man in his alone time or you? Got any better idea than chillin' there and starin' at my butt?”, he snarled, lips curling into a smile.

“Stop it, that's even worse!”, she averred. To his content, her tone was clearing up; the soldier could hear the grin in her emphasis. Slowly, he began to doupt if letting the siren regain her usual self confidence was the best thing to do right now.

“Aight, I'm done anyway”, he remarked, reaching for the towel on the wall, “you close your eyes and I'll be out in a seco-”

It felt like a painful exaggerated slow motion when the towel slipped out of his hand, a cold shiver running down his spine twice the speed in compensation to that. He mouthed a silenced “Fuck” and swore he already saw his life pass before his mind's eye, when the weird sensation of the atmosphere shifting around him struck through him. 

He blinked, still facing the wall, hand still on the towel. Maya had phaselocked the cloth, and Axton was more thankful for her abilities now than he probably had ever been on the battlefield. I mean, take an axe straight to the face, sure, but bending down ass-naked in a shower in front of the only teammate of his he had the slightest sense of shame in front of – no way.

“Can this situation get any worse”, he uttered, sighing in relief.

“Well, at least one of us is dressed” came it noted dryly from behind him. “One ass saves the other.”, Maya chirped and moved the dark, shimmering sphere slightly towards his hand until he found hold of the towel again. He could feel the warmth burning on his cheeks.

“Literally. That was close, glad you chose life over death from awe”, he echoed and swung it around his hips, checking the knot three times before finally turning around to her with a wide grin. “Can always count on ya.”

The siren sat on the floor, observing him with what she intended to be an amused grin; Axton could make out her embarrassment very well now though. The content of a shampoo bottle was spread on the floor behind her, slowly dissolving towards the drains; she must have dropped it as she fell. Her hair was slightly ruffled, shimmering wet from the humid air around them, one strand dangling down her face. Her cheeks were slightly reddened, probably due to the warm temperature; Axton was reliefed to see some colour back in her pale face again, and if it wasn't for the dark red streaks beginning at her hip and covering both of her legs entirely, she almost looked relaxed. Contrary to the crimson of her already healing injuries, her blue marks stood out against her pale skin. They covered a large section of her left leg, disappearing under her clothes just above her waist. The soldier noted at that point, that he had never seen her solely in her body before – and Maya must have realized that just now too, because she was looking away abruptly, her cheeks turning almost as red as the blemishes on her legs. 

“Sure you can count on me, and I know I always can too, so would you be so kind and help me up, maybe?”, she replied unassertive.

“No need to get all shy, I'm the one dressed only in a towel here”, he taunted, though approaching her slowly. She followed every single one of his movements like some shy doe, but Axton didn't mind because that banished all of the sarcasm out of her expression for once, leaving her with a slight, thankful smile as he reached out his hand for her.

He pulled her up in one, smooth motion and stepped back as soon as he was certain she had regained her balance. She mouthed a “Thank you”, heading towards the still running shower; by now, her cheeks were deep red. Axton couldn't suppress another smile as he went to pick up his scattered clothes before heading towards the door.

“Oh, just one more thing”, he opined as his hand was resting on the door handle. Maya flinched slightly, but turned around to him clumsily. 

“Yeah?”

“Since you can't run away right now; bar, you, me, tonight? I figured we could use a little pick-me-up.” Axton raised her his most convincing smile, at which she scoffed. For the glimpse of a second, he feared the cold again that was welling up from the crack between the floor and frame – but her lips curled into a smile. 

“Sure, why not.” Same old answer – that was his siren.

He grinned. “Neat. Will see ya at eight then. Now go warm yourself up, your lips are all blue from the cold...”, he teased, opening the door, waving a gesture of farewell over his shoulder.  
“Don't let me get started on little Axton over there!”, she shouted after him, just as the door closed. Axton felt the heat rise to his face again, although he was already cracking up about that last comment; not that kind of innocence he had always imagined. He gathered some clean clothes and fetched his jacket from a neatly folded stack on one of the beds; the heat didn't go away though, even as he settled, fully clothed by now, on the balcony, letting his feet dangle over the edge and gazing over the sunset bathed streets, trying to get the time pass until it was eight.

Maya had made sure the door was locked four solid times before ungainly peeling off her body, folding it neatly and stepping under the hot stream of water. The warmth on her cheeks blended in with the steam around her slowly, luring her into a long yearned for relaxation. The smile on her face though stayed, as well as the tingle in her stomach. She had hoped for a calm evening, to congregate, relax after that hell of a mission; that she had company now did, though for her a rare occasion, not necessarily seem less attractive.

Speaking of which...Little Axton. Maya grinned bitterly. Who was she even kidding.

***

Entering the bar they received a few surprised looks, greetings and get-well-soon’s from every side as they walked towards the counter. The bar was well attended; it seemed to be one of those nights where every soul in Sanctuary was up on their feet. Axton waved in Moxxi’s direction and ordered them both light drinks – “to acclimate”, how he called it.

“Look what good ol’ momma nostalgia dragged back into my bar, isn’t that you, sugar!”, Moxxi chirped, greeting him with a very, very warm smile. “I knew they wouldn’t let the canyon take two of my sweetest customers away.” She shot him an amused smile over her shoulder as she grabbed the liquor from the shelf. Maya leaned on the polished surface, arms folded – a piteous try to play over the throbbing ache that ran through her joints and muscles when walking more than five steps at a stretch. She noticed Axton shooting her a frown, but he accepted their drinks in silence; after nodding Moxxi a ‘Thanks’ and receiving a wink in return, they both headed for their regular bench in the back.

“You could’ve said somethin’, I’d have lent you a hand if you’re not well with running around yet.”, he scolded her as soon they were out of earshot. Maya was thankful for that; the last thing she needed right now was being the center of interest with her injuries, and that was for both of them. When she had settled in her seat, taking a bit longer than usual adjusting to a position that wasn’t straining her legs, she looked up, meeting his eyes. His expression was unusually serious for a topic Maya had expected him to just make fun of. To push her away if she had asked if she could stabilize on his shoulder while walking that short distance to the bar, maybe how she shouldn’t drink anything since she was already wavering. And Maya wasn’t quite the person for pity from the passers-by either, so she had just kept silent about it.

“You always were one of the stubborn ones.”, Axton added now, making her shoot up from her brooding to catch him sneering at her. Maya jerked up her knee, kicking him right at the shin with a good pace that sent a stabbing ache up her leg; but the irked grunt as a miffed pout took over the usual smirk on the soldier’s face made up for it.

“What the heck was that for?!”, he whined, holding his shin with both hands, but Maya ignored that.

“I think I’ve had enough intimacy with you for one day”, she retorted, gesturing somewhere in the direction below his belt.

“Oh come on, you’re still on this? I thought I was alone”, he laughed, leaning back in his seat; after an instant, his laugh froze again. “You didn’t see anything, did ya?”

“Marveled your ass crack for a little more than I ought to, but other than that…Fortunately, no”, she replied, lifting the drink to her lips, smiling over the brim as she watched his expression change again, now into a huffy grin.

“Let’s hope you secretly enjoyed this, because it surely won’t happen again soon”, he said, downing a big gulp of his booze after that; Maya raised an eyebrow.

“Can’t complain.” She set down her own empty glass. Though a persistent heat was glooming on her cheeks, she didn’t feel any different otherwise. She put it off with the humble strength of the drinks Axton had chosen and proceeded to push it around on the wooden surface.

“Bit greedy today, are we”, Axton commented, glassing her his own empty cup now.

“It was a hell of a mission after all, we deserved that”, Maya pouted. “Would you mind getting a refill, since I…” she left it at that, gesturing towards her lower body. Axton nodded, already on his feet. Maya couldn’t help but letting her gaze slip a bit to the lower regions as he headed towards the bar again; as her gaze wandered through the room, the siren quietly wondered if catching that towel had been one of her brightest decisions.

“Why’s everybody actin’ up like that, it’s not like we actually bit the dust out there”, she heard him grunt as he returned, two clinks as he sat the new glasses on the table, sliding into his seat opposite of her.

“Yeah, I’d bet my legs it wasn’t that close.”, Maya scoffed.

“I see” Axton grinned his signature grin and pushed her a glass across the table, his already lifted to drink again. Maya watched his lips curl around the brim, how the tendons on his neck shifted as he gulped down the liquid. The stubble was still there, as well as faded bruises; aftereffects of the crash. The siren felt something swell up in her chest. She noticed some of his stiff movements throughout the evening, most of the time overplayed, but not invisible. And those were the fruits of her very labor.

“Ax, I’m…sorry for all of that” She had lowered her voice, eyes concentrated on the drink between her fingers.

“You’re repeatin’ yourself.”

“Shut up. I’ll keep doing so until you accept it.” She shot him an annoyed glance.

“Maya, I told you, it’s okay.” He gave his words an emphasis with a pause, his eyes resting calmly on her. “There’s nothin’ to apologize about. Don’t wanna know how often I accidently graze shoot my teammates in combat. But hush, don’t tell ‘em, pretty sure I won’t survive that on the contrary” He let out a short laugh and Maya felt a smile lingering on the corners of her lips.

“No worries, I’ll make sure I’m the only one to fuck you up.”, she said, returning the eye contact this time.

“Don’t mind that one”, Axton grinned.

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, only changing amused looks every now and then over snippets of conversations they overheard. The contents of their glasses was diminishing slower this time, and Maya felt the familiar warmth spreading from her stomach, soothing the slight throbs coming from her grazes.

“Can’t believe it.”, Axton’s hoarse voice rose above the background murmur of the bar around them at some point.

“Believe what?”

“That it’s over.”

Maya glanced at him over the brim of her glass. His cheeks had slightly reddened too; he had leaned back in his seat watching their surroundings with hooded lids, but it seemed more as if he was staring at something very distant, almost wistful.

She tore her eyes off him; she should answer something by now. “Yeah, I’m glad we’re back too”, she endorsed, sighing.

“Nah, that’s not what I mean. I mean, no more Hyperion, can ya believe that? I heard it in the news yesterday, they’re slowly retracting the troups here.

“Not even for farming their precious Eridium huh?”

“Well, seems like they have more important things scheduled since their president is dead”, Axton remarked. He twirled his glass around in his hands, stirring the rest of the liquor in it. “Thanks to us.” He grinned again.

“We saw what pride does to us, didn’t we”, Maya sighed. “I, at least, gotta be way more careful if I don’t want to go through that annoying process of finding new teammates soon…”

“If I had to take a chance, I’d raze ya to the ground anyway” His last words faded into a long yawn.

“Suuure.” Her expression did not quite match her state as she was shooting him an eyebrow raised sneer; Axton didn't notice that as he was still letting his gaze wander through the room, not searching for anything in particular. The siren let out a voiceless sigh, letting herself sag forward, leaning on the table. “Won't need to do that, anyway. If we finish those straggler missions, there's not much work left other than conciliating tussles over Eridium, whose value will be ebbing away with time, especially with all those new planets and galaxies coming to the fore when everybody and their mother will be searching for the Vaults. Pandora will be just a dusty desert again in no time.”

“You're right. Man, I wonder what all those maniacs around here will do then.” 'I wonder what I will do then.' was the phrase that hung in the air, but neither of them dared to speak out loud. Pushing it away at best, that was one of the rare but existent things they were alike at. They have had this conversation before, with the same outcome. Maya barely remembered any of it, and she believed so didn't Axton – their intake on alcohol that night must have been one of their records again.

The soldier cleared his throat, rather in thought than to chime in anything. Eventually, his eyes flickered back into her direction.

“Always called it. Seems like soon there will be nothin' to do here other than bowling down bandits every day, and believe it or not, even that's a finite resource...” He seemed rather be speaking to himself than to the siren in front of him. He sipped at his drink, letting the fluid remain in his mouth for a moment before swallowing. When he spoke again, his voice sounded throaty.

“It's really over.”

Maya watched him, glancing at his profile as he was staring somewhere into the room, opening her mouth to say something, but she just couldn't think of something suitable. Instead, she said “I guess, yeah.”

They fell silent after that, both staring at their drinks. Maya rubbed at a stain, a rough spot on the glass, to no avail. Axton leaned back, throwing one arm over the back rest.

“At least if was a fun hell of a ride.” His eyes lingered on the siren when he said that. Maya didn't notice that; she smiled slightly, almost cautious, at her glass.

“It was.”

The murmur, the muffled music around them; a faint background noise that stuck around throughout the evening, seemed blustering now. The alcohol wasn't doing any good to that, either. Their last drink slowly took effect, spreading over them as a blurred haze. The dull taste of metal and liquor burned on their tongues.

Maya flinched slightly when the soldier pushed himself off his seat in the next moment, reaching for her glass. “We need more for this shit.”, he uttered; the siren didn't really mind. He was facing the bar by now, holding the glasses firmly in front of him like an objection.

When he turned around again, the commando's hoarse voice barely outdid the noise. “Maya... There's somethin' I-”

His words cut off suddenly, ending in a surprised grunt. Glass shattered on the wooden floor. As he turned around to the cause, Maya's concentration was jerked away from his face eventually; one of the bar guests had lifted his hands in a soothing manner, brabbeling something about 'not seeing him there'. Axton rubbed a spot at his shoulder, the broken glass on the floor he dropped already forgotten, murmuring a “Whatever” between his curses. It couldn't have been that hard of a hit as that guy ran into him, but the siren noticed his gritted teeth when he brushed over a particular spot, and she inevitably remembered the crash.

Keeping it in perspective soberly, he really hadn't seen Axton standing there, neither did he run into him on purpose; but Maya wasn't sober, and so wasn't that guy. But blame it on the alcohol, or her remorse, or both – before Maya could reconsider, she blurted out a “Watch the heck out where you're going, asshole!” from her seat.

The guy halted a few seconds too late, his reaction slow as a hive. His red face told her that he as well must have quite some booze into already. “The fuck did ya just say, lady?”, he slurred.  
“I said watch your step. That's all”, she hissed sharply, already averting her eyes. That was that.

Or not. The guy's expression clouded over into a grim. “Wait a fuckin' second, you're one of those siren-ladies, aren't ya”, the guy prattled, pointing at her. A few others around him glanced in their direction, curious what the fuzz was about. “Really think you can order me around, missy, over your weak-as-fuck little boyfriend here? Think he can't take a lil shove? Fuckin femnazis, your damn tribe” His voice was rising to enraged yelling; spit was spraying at those poor souls standing in a range within two meters of him. The siren felt heat flush into her cheeks, by now being too drunk to differ if it was because of the anger or Axton's pet name, who was visibly annoyed; “Dude, chill out, she was just mentionin' it-”

“I've got enough of ya siren-bitches, y'all just miserable posers with your lame ass magic tricks. Wait 'till I put ya over mah knee and show ya how the real world works since ya got everythin' shoved up your asses all day long!”

Maya sighed. “I'm not trying to start a fight. I'm just telling you calmly to watch out who you're running into, could be the murderer of Hyperion's president”, she replied slowly; proficient ears noticed by now that she was not at all calm.

“Fuck you an' ya smart ass vocabes, are ya makin' fun of me?! Don't fuck with me!” He was piercing her with his eyes during his choleric speech and Maya could feel herself stiffen up as she noticed his gaze slipping down to her chest now. “Actually, you're quite a babe, maybe I'll overthink that one-”

He was the one interrupted by a grunt now when Axton's knuckels hit him right in the face; a disgusting crunch could be heard as his nose broke. The group around them let out a yelp, unable to move, every pair of eyes just kind of staring at that guy tumbling backwards slowly, blood gushing down his jaw, eyes widened. He lifted a hand up to his face, feeling the wet substance on his face until the pain seemed to hit him late. 

“You--!! Fuckin' bastard, w'all know you're just in for the fun” - Axton flinched, clenching his fist again - “or did ya tell her already when you'll sell her to Hyperio-” He didn't come to an end as the soldiers second strike hit him in the stomach; the guy bent over, cursing wildly, hauling off himself this time while Axton found his balance. 

The soldier didn't quite manage to struck out for a third hit as Maya clasped to his arm, trying to prevent him from going all full on that guy, who hurled himself at them. His shove made them tumble backwards together; the siren felt a sharp sting rush through her leg as she was pressed against the edge of the table by Axton's body weight, suppressing a whimper. She felt him tensing up under her grip, ready to throw himself at that guy again, when-

A loud breach coming from the bar ripped through the shouts of the crowd; every head turned around. Moxxi had climbed on the counter, holding the shotgun she just fired at the goddamn ceiling. The silence that was immediately spreading in the whole bar was giving her soft whisper an even eerier effect.

“You better hurry your ass and get off those two sweetheart's nerves right now or I won't hesitate another second and make you, honey“, she purred, smiling her sweetest smile at the guy whose body fluids were dripping to the floor by now, pointing with the run of her shotgun to emphasize and tilted her head towards the door.

“It's allright, we're leaving”, Maya said, pushing herself off the table. She pulled at the commando's arm as he seemed to hesitate for a moment, though then reached behind him, his hand closing around Maya's. He pulled her through the rows of the bar guests towards the entrance, eyes concentrated at the door firmly. She stumbled along, her breathing still shallow.

Moxxi threw some farewell phrase at them, but Maya did not pay any attention anymore. Her eyes were locked on the back of Axton's head as they rushed down the stairs in front of the bar, mind spinning from alcohol and shock. After the first corner, he had pulled Maya close, wrapping an arm around her hip, stabilizing her. They did not speak a single word on their way to the headquarters. They didn't need to – they just couldn't hold in their laughter any longer.

***

Arriving at the headquarters, they found it just like they left it – deserted. Apparently it was one of those nights where seemingly the whole town was on their feet, going from bar to bar, from party to party. Needless to say Axton was not quite in the mood any more for a party, or the bar – but the thought of a quiet evening once in a while appealed even to his usually audacious preferences over plans for the night.

They headed to one of the room upstairs where Maya let herself fall onto one of the shabby couches, visibly reliefed to have the strain taken off her legs.

“What a night”, Axton grunted as he stretched before joining her, even the slight shift his weight caused as he sat down made the siren flinch slightly. The grin from their entire way over to the headquarters was still stuck to his face. “Been quite a while since my last bar fight.”

“I've never been to one”, Maya murmured; her cheeks were still reddened from the alcohol. The bruises on her arms faded slowly, even on her pale skin. She was staring into the room somewhere, looking pretty tired; though a slight smile had settled on her face as well.

“Wouldn't have thought that if you wouldn't have told me”, he taunted. “Ya couldn't even leave without payin' if it wasn't for a mission.”

“Is it wrong to keep myself away from trouble from time to time, Mr gets-off-on-acting-up?”

“We're on Pandora, kiddo.”

“I noticed, asshole.” She boxed him on the shoulder, rolling her eyes. “That's why you need someone to bridle you sometimes.”

“That's why we balance each other out.”, Axton corrected her, grinning. Maya averted her eyes, expression changing to a slight frown.

“I guess, you're right once in a lifetime.”

He watched her from the side, glancing at her sunken figure next to him. Her eyes were wandering through the room, but she seemed to be concentrated on something way more far away. There was a faint, red bruise right next to the corner of her mouth. Probably even his work, in that haze at the bar when she tried to hold him back. Axton sighed voicelessly, drawing his gaze off of her to his hands that laid in his lap. His knuckles looked as if he had punched a wall continuously a few times, and in sense of efficiency his act at the bar was just that – although it got that fucker to shut up at least. There were certainly days more glorious in his career of Vault Hunting. With going over board in situations like that he had put himself in danger too many times than he liked to admit. That was in the past now – Axton was pretty good at accepting his own faults, as in ignoring them forever. Quite some while he had actually been succeeding with that – but now, when some of his actions counted for more than just himself, but for at least five other people he probably each owned his life to at some point – he reasoned that it couldn't go on like that.

“Thanks.” 

The soldier looked up puzzled. “For earnin' us an order to stay away from the bar for, like, a month, or-?”

“It's Moxxi, she got off on that at best”, Maya pointed out, to which Axton shrugged affirmatively. “For- I don't know. Being there for me, I guess.”

“No big deal. That guy was bein' an asshole.”

They fell silent until the only noise was the distant noise from the streets. Axton rubbed his knuckles, staring at nothing in particular. He would have done that for any of his team members, of course. No exceptions. No special treatments. No favourites.

“You really didn't have to do that”, the siren uttered. “I could have taken care of myself.”

“Saw that”, Axton said, raising an eyebrow.

“Fuck off.” The amused tone was gone from her voice completely. Her gaze looked glassy. “Just stop making it so easy for me to get you in trouble.”  
Axton watched her silently. He knew that tone, how her voice became all low and sincere, her gaze averted. “If you know me since a while you pretty much noticed I'm the cause of all trouble and I attract it like I do the ladies, y'know”, he asserted.

“Very funny. Just... consider it.”

“Aye, Sir.”, he grinned.

“I, uh- have to use the toilet”, she said; the soldier noticed her gritting her teeth when she pushed herself off the couch.

“Come back alive!”, he shouted after her, leaning back into the cussions.

Minutes passed, and right as Axton seriously thought about offering some help and with that, taking the risk of probably a hit or two on his injured shoulder, Maya's voice toned from the hallway.

“Axton, don't... don't laugh but I can't get my damn pants back on.” Her head appeared in the doorway; she was peeking around the corner.

“You serious?” Axton began to chuckle, but it quickly ebbed away as he noticed Maya's discomfort. He remembered that this afternoon had been the only time one of their teammates had ever seen her any less covered than she always was. “Should I, uh, leave, or-?”, he chimed in, but Maya shook her head.

“I just- promise to shut up about it.”

“Maya, you've seen my bare ass today, it's not like we-” He stopped himself right there; as she was entering the room fully now, he could see that that wasn't what she was talking about.  
Crimson red splotches shimmered between the dried blood that was spread all over her legs. Some of the bruises had even turned slightly lilac. She was supporting her weight on the doorframe, her posture a miserable fraction of her usually upright pace.

“See, I know that face, you're doing it again!”

Axton was staring at her at that, and his next facial expression must have given away what he thought, because he had no idea what the siren was talking about, as she lowered her voice slightly now.  
“I don't deserve this. I did this to myself, so you don't need to act all up on it.”

Axton sighed.  
“You're still thinkin' about that stupid crash, are ya.”

She nodded slowly. There it was again. As much as he appreciated the fun one could have with that stubborn troublemaker of a siren, as much she tended to be stubborn even with her very self. He had already brushed the incident off his mind, but Maya seemed to pleague herself with it. Axton also knew that there was more than her not wanting to be pitied about it. 'You don't need to blame yourself for putting be in danger.', he wanted to say. 'We all make mistakes, it's okay.' But he could already imagine the outcome if he tried that. With that stubbornnes, she didn't make it as far on Pandora for nothing; to his disfavor.

So Axton did what he was best at – and that was showing people how little he cared.

He was pretty sure the next thing he said wasn't any of the things she probably had gone through in her mind while he remained silent, and that usually brought her off guard, and catching her off guard was usually tearing down her burdens, even if just for mere moments.

“I always thought your leg hair was blue too, but you don't even have any.”

Maya gaped at him. “Yeah, I, um. I shave it.”

“Will it be blue if it grows back?”

“Axton-”

He laughed. “I'm joking, now come on back here and let me look at that.”

As she hesitated for the glimpse of an instant, Axton noticed how tense his chest felt since she had appeared in the doorway. Eventually, when she pushed herself off the doorframe and joined him on the couch again he felt himself let out a sigh of relief. She shot him a quick look as she sat down, and he returned it with a slight grin; in the end, that was all he needed. She mouthed a faint 'Thank you', both knowing she meant more than just scooting out of the way now.

Sat down, she settled her legs on his lap, doing so very slowly as every contact on her skin seemed to hurt. He let her take her time before examining the wounds, carefully.

“You look like shit.” Very carefully. “You're a mess. I mean I'm a guy of full body-contact, like it a bit rough sometimes... never intended to to that to you though, 'm sorry.”

“That guy shoved you, so nevermind.”, Maya sighed after shooting him an annoyed glance. “I should go see Dr. Zed again, tomorrow...”

“If you wanna get some actual sleep tonight and not be woken up every few hours by that pain you're tryin' to play over so hard, we should do somethin' about it now.”, Axton pointed out.  
“Any ideas then?”

“I got some salve in my backpack over there, can ya reach it?” He gestured in the direction of the floor behind her, where his backpack sat in front of his bunk bed. She propped herself on her ellbows, turning around and stretching out until she got a grasp on one of the straps. Axton's eyes wandered over her bruise covered legs to the cloth of the stretching over her pale hips due to the strain her position caused right now. He caught the tiny container as she was hurling it at him before adjusting herself on the couch again.

“That's really not what you imagined of the evening, I know”, she sighed.

“Ya see me walkin' out of this room right now? Shut your pretty mouth”, Axton retorted.

With a desperate sigh, the siren burried her face in her hands, dropping back onto the armrest. She flinched first when he applied the cold lotion around her wounds; that shit must really burn, but she kept her composure quite professionally as Axton was working his way up her shin. She was wincing every now and then when he brushed a particular sore spot, but she effect of the salve kicked in pretty fast and soon he could watch her frown fade away. The crimson still stood out against her pale skin and those blue marks twirling up her left leg. Contrary to her looks, she felt so frail under his hands, her skin soft between all those wounds and bruises. Where her legs rested on his lap, a warmth was spreading slowly between them. Axton couldn't help but lift a hand slightly, tracing one of her marks with a featherlight brush over her skin.

“Ax...?” Her voice sounded weary.

“I always wondered how far they go”, he mumbled. “Do they feel any different?”

“They've always been there, so... I can't tell”, she answered calmly. “What are you doing?”

If Axton knew that at this point, honestly, he would have told her. Instead, he remained in his position, feeling the heat spread in his chest again, raising up to his cheeks. 'They're beautiful.', he wanted to say, but that didn't seem to suit. It would just offend her, coming from the commando. Nothing ever suited that came out of his mouth in a situation like that. 

He winced slightly as he felt the cussions around him shift, the warmth on his lap suddenly gone. He stared at the spot where her knees where before, almost wistful. “Shit, I'm sorry-”

He stopped himself as he felt her lean against his shoulder, burying her temple in the curve between his shoulder and neck; her way of connoting him without any words. He felt her breath brush his jawline as he lifted his arm, wrapping it around her shoulders. The siren had closed her eyes, one hand resting on his abdomen. When he brushed across her marks there, slowly entwining their fingers, she didn't draw back.

“Remember never to touch a car again.”, she murmured, her cheeks bright red, probably still the effect ot the alcohol.

“Only If you never take me to a bar again.”

“Touché. Looks like you're looking forward to your next crash.”

A few minutes of silence passed in which they just sat, chests rising and lowering calmly before Maya took a breath to chime in again.

“You were right.”

“Wha?”

“A while ago, you said, you'll miss all of this. I get it now. That trouble around here, all those loveable maniacs. I see what you meant.”

Axton remembered their night at the bar, when they philosophed about their time after Pandora again, only that in this very instant and still now, he in contrary didn't particularly have in mind just their team. In fact, he wasn't talking about their team at all, he thought, as his eyes lingered on her. Her and that slight smile on her lips.

“I wish it would last just a little longer before we all part.”, she said.

Axton let out a breathy chuckle. Another seemingly endless missions of collecting, looting and killing for orders. Countless nights around the campfire with stories one edgier than the last one. Car races, drinking nights, falling into bed exhausted every night, maybe even killing another president. 

If that was what lead up to her backing him up on the battlefield, listening to her laughter at the campfire, watching her gulp down more drinks than him - her in his arms right now. Then, Axton wished that, yeah, it would just last a little longer.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bar nights are the best nights.

There were quite a few things Axton would have preferred over his current situation. Taking out a wormhole thresher for diner, for example. Attending a lecture of ‘One hundred love poems by Krieg the Psycho’, in the front row, performed by the artist himself. Being locked in a room with a dozen of Varkids , no, being locked in a room with a dozen of Tannis’es.

Instead, he layed on his back, face buried in his pamls. Ripped out of deep sleep, he came up with a bunch of other comparisons in his semi-somnolence while the reason for this dilemma began to make sense to his tired ears.

“…’s why it’s kinda urgent. I hope you’re all awake by now, but here’s the deal.” Lilith’s voice sounded somewhat throaty, probably because she had just woken up herself. “An informant of ours brought to us just now that those yellow fuckers up there are up to something as if their president didn’t just get his ass beaten to death by the most pissed siren around here. We don’t know any details yet, so nothing to spare sadly.”

A calm rustle could be heared over the connection. The commando slowly propped himself up, rubbing at his eyes with his other hand.

“But what we do know is the location of their staging posts that still communicate with their space basis. We can buy our informants some time If we make that whole plotting-their-next-world-take-over a little difficult for them. Coordinates are on your echos, and Mordy will give every single one of you a big fat buss along the usual rewards.”

There was an indignant grunt in the background before the connection ended. Axton rolled over slowly, adjusting his eyes to the lightning in the room and brought up his interface, groaning. 

What would he give for their job of being Pandora’s knights in shining armor not beginning before at least 10 am.

 

They all came together at the Pierce Station. There was a lot of yawning and eye-rubbing as the others seemed to be quite battered from last night’s activities as well while Axton chose their destination on the Travel Station, but in general everyone seemed to appreciate a change after the past couple of days, a thrill almost. And it also seemed to work like caffeine, because as soon as Axton turned around again Gaige and Salvador were already arguing over the driver’s seat before even arriving at their objective location. Zer0 was the first to shrug it off as the routine they all admited they missed a little, and dematerialized at the control panel. Krieg followed shortly after, shoving a ranting mechromancer in front of him. Salvador shot them a short 'Mornin’ with a grin before heading off as well, and Axton’s eyes fell on the siren that was approaching the Travel Station now.

“Glad you made it”, he said, shooting her a smirk. “Didn’t look like it yesterday.”

“Yeah, probably sold my soul at some point this night at Zed’s but he stitched me up pretty good”, Maya opined. “As if I would miss out on kicking Hyperion’s ass.”

“But don’t ya get too slaphappy”, he grinned. “Still won’t share my loot with ya.”

“Wouldn’t waste a thought on that, anyways”, she remarked as she proceeded to go up to the station, wrinkling her nose. The soldier’s gaze followed her until she was beside him, her fingers typing on the screen. Her composure was upright again, and the colour was back in her cheeks, lips slightly pursed as she scrolled through the menu, shifting her weight onto one side, the other hand propped up on her hip. That motion brought her so close to Axton he could feel the slight warmth radiating off of her uncovered skin, eyes slowly following those blue markings swirling up her arm and disappearing under the cloth.

“Maya-…”, he heard himself begin. The siren turned her head, both of them locking eyes. He felt one of her blue strands brush his nose as she did so, and opened his mouth to say something, closed it again. He could practically count the light sources in the dapper station around them that reflected in her pale eyes when her eyes flickered down to his lips, and back up.

The siren shifted, moving back one step as if she remembered her comfort zone, though eyes still concentrated on his. “Yeah?”, she voiced, tilting her head.

Axton felt heat coil in his stomach, the same heat that would rise to his cheeks in only a matter of seconds if he continued like this. It was already a familiar feeling, and he couldn’t quite decide if he should love or hate it.

“Just wanted to call shotgun, no way I’ll let ya in front of the sterring wheel again”, he said, forcing the corners of his mouth curl up into his signature grin; hen he saw the expression of wonder fall out of the siren’s face, that grin turned into a victorious smile, his cheeks feeling only a little warm; he could life with that.

“Axton… can I tell you something?”, Maya uttered calmly, drawing the soldiers gaze back upon her. With averted eyes, she glanced around them quickly, as if making sure there were no listeners. Axton frowned, watching her jaw clenche, her buckled figure indicating him to come closer.

He hesitated for a moment when her eyes searched for his again, but Axton leaned in, gaze brushing over her reddened cheeks. 

He felt her breath on his skin as she did after him, until her lips lingered right beside his ear.

“You're an asshole.”, she whispered, voice back at her usual poise, and gave his shoulder a good shove before turning back to the screen, selecting their destination and dematerializing with a scoffing grimace. Axton remained, rubbing the sore spot on his upper arm, and let out a breath he didn’t notice he was holding.

That woman would not quite be his death but instead his slow, torturous perishing, and all of that even without the intentions Axton didn’t know he subcounciously wished for.

All he knew was if that resembled anything of how it went until now, though, Axton thought while selecting the Highlands on the screen, he wasn’t really in a rush anyway.

 

Maya opened her eyes, waiting for her vision becoming clear after she materialized at their objective. She felt the slight breeze of the Highlands brush over her skin, heared the nature rustle in the winds, and in a distance, her teammates’ animated snippets of conversations. She batted her eyes against the bland sun rays, reaching for the weapon on her back in order to prepare for closing the gap between her and the rest; she winced when those rays abruptly got blocked out. She blinked, though her finger lingering on the trigger of her sub machine gun she was unable to lift it in front of her fast enough before feeling a firm grip curling around the wrist she was holding the weapon with.

“You can’t pull the sassy siren on someone and don’t expect them to come back at ya”, Axton’s husky voice sounded over the light rustle of leaves around them, so close it didn’t take more than a breath for her to hear. His grip on her wrist loosened as he turned the run away from him. “Got ya.” Against the sun enlightening his contours the siren could barely make out the grin that was spreading on his face, but at this point, she didn’t need a visual proof.

“Thanks for the private lesson” The siren rolled her eyes. “Now hit the road if you don’t want your ass to be phaselocked”, she averred, shoving at his chest with the her arm that was still lifted between them. He let himself stumble backwards a few steps before dropping a curtsy along with a slurred “Always at ya service!” before turning around, heading off for the others.

Maya took her time, adjusting the seam of her glove, checking on her weapon, cheeks burning worse than any phoenix on her best days. It had just been a solid advice, a living example to make her think about her composure next time. And the fact that she wasn’t able to move an inch was just her being surprised by his sudden approach. By that hoarse voice so close to her out of the blue and that peculiarly benign grip around her wrist that was pulling her even closer slightly. He just caught her off guard.

Maya sighed, and though still slightly puzzled about that just now, she new her commando. There was no such thing as a missed opportunity for Axton to have the last saying. Looked like that round went on him – for now.

***

Oh how he missed the sweet sounds of the battlefield. Guns howling, bullets after bullets pattering the ground around them. The clicking of reloaded guns echoing over the flat, faint cries and shouts of their enemies. The kind words of those psychos who hurled themselves at them despite the instinctive gunfire they were opening at any threat. The metal taste of blood and the harsh smell of burnt bodies and corroded skin. The thrill. Salvador's never ending laughter blared across the battlefield when he pulled the second gun out and went storming right into the rows of bandits, Zer0's calm remarks whenever he put out an enemy especially nicely. Gaige adapting Krieg's yelling over the time. And - an occasional chuckle ending in a snort, followed by the eerie shift in their eardrums when the phaselock dematerialized and left the body that floundered helplessly in it's capture moments ago drop to the ground lifeless. It was a mission like hundreds of others they had come along on their way until now. When they had pushed forwards further, putting down enemy after enemy, wave after wave, they were working together sheerly without a saying, following their instincts like the living organism of desctruction they were fused to over their time. 

However, not everything about war was as fun as he made it seem like; there were a few things the commando didn't miss at all. Like the unpleasant sting that was spreading in his veins because of a grazing shot right now. How easily one could forget in anticipation for the thrill of combat that getting shot was indeed a thing. The soldier cowered behind a pile of wooden chests, back pressed against the rough wood that was slightly vibrating from the shots that were sent by the bandits and their graceful aiming. One of them, appereantly, had done his homework, because Axton was lifting the hand he held his thigh with, only to notice that it was covered in blood. He rolled his eyes, pulling a rifle from his back and reloading it with a few swift motions.

“Oi mate, you 'aight?”, sounded more a growl than a voice over the noise behind them. The gunzerker had dropped beside him, carelessly ripping the magazine out of the shotgun he was carrying. Axton frowned at his handling of such a delicate weapon – bought new just days ago, a beautiful Jacob that curls into one's grip nice and easy - “Hey, you already blackin' out Ax? Want a coup de grace para ti amigo?”

The soldier frowned and shook his head. “'Ts Just a scratch, but look what those days off did to me”, he chuckled, padding a spot above his injury with his flat hand.

“We'll get ya stitched up in no time!” After slamming another magazine back into the run of his gun – ouch – he held out his thick hand, and Axton let him pull him up from the ground. The gunzerker was already off further into the chaos, and the soldier took out a few bandits that were already hurling themselves out of his way.

Remaining in his cover, his lack of company shouldn't last as long.

“Yo, you look kinda pale sunny boy, here, have a shot!!”, Gaige was shouting over what was swelling to a massive soundscape of both of Salvador's roaring rounds now. She was running towards him, waving a health kit in her robotic arm. Judging form her pace she wasn't thinking of halting, and as fast as she appeared, the mechromancer threw the kit in his direction before vaulting the wooden boxes behind him with a leap that looked almost playful. With a smooth reach to his back that almost omitted in the toss over the barrier behind him, Axton flung his turret after her. While those sweet sounds of the magazines rattling through the run of his lady popped up, the soldier hasted around the edge of his cover into the shield of the Sabre. His new cover allowed him a new view of the battlefield that was emerging in front of him his turret was taking out now, and he was just about to aim for his next victim, when -

“Grenade out!!” He would recognize that voice under thousands, and it was clearly not the voice of one of those nasty bastards that were bombarding them right now, and he was turning his head just as he noticed something rolling towards him at the corner of his eye; “Oh shi-”

The detonation although swallowed, like a good lady did, by his turret, knocked Axton off his feet. When the back of his head hit the dirty ground with a nasty thud that caused his Echo system to flicker off; he saw the shield of his Sabre vanish, followed by an unpleasant crack of bursting metal.

“Holy fuck are you allright?”, he heard Maya scream over to him.

“I sure am, just knocked my lady right into afterlife”, he snarled, rubbing the back of his head as his turret dematerialized into the faint blue. “Where the fuck did ya think ya were throwin' that?”  
“I didn't mean to take out a teammate, dumbass, it was an accident!”, she countered as he was propping up on his ellbows, rifle already back in his hands. His next shot took out the last bandit in sight with a clean head shot out of the siren's phaselock. 

The grenade had taken out the battlefield completely and Axton couldn't complain about the slight firing pause as he pushed himself in a seating position only to notice the stinging ache in the back of his head now. He rubbed some dirt off his face with the back of his hand, staring at the remains of the Sabre that was sprawled out around him. That would take another sleepless night to repair; he sighed to himself. As the interface of his Echo started up again, his eyes flickered to the red icon in the corner of his menu. Right, how could he forget.

He shook his head slightly, as if trying to get rid of the thought.

“Mind to lend me a hand here after mercilessly knocking me out here?”, he pondered, shooting the siren that was cowering above some smgs, comparing stats and numbers a reproachful look. In an instant, she was besides him, and a pale hand curled around his forearm, pulling him up on his feet for the second time today.

“Thanks, gotta make that up to ya sometime”, he said, winking at her.

“Shoot me right here and now because I'd rather respawn”

“Say that twice and we have a deal.”

She ignored that. “Be more careful next time, genius, I want to get that mission done at some point”, Maya bickered, raising him an eyebrow as he dusted off his pants; the dirt stuck to his pants as they were clammy from the blood. When he glanced back at her, the red icon gleamed at him like a flout. 'You have 1 new message.' Axton pushed it away with a whipe of his hand over his interface.

“Come on, you can compare your shit when we're back at Sanctuary, the others are already at it again”, Maya urged, pulling at his sleeve in order to get him to close the interface. Axton felt her featherlight fingers brush his forearm.

“Sure, will do Sir”, he grinned, exiting the menu. 

He would deal with that later. Just not today. Just not yet.

 

Opportunity was, now with the lack of countless Hyperion Loaders wanting them dead, continuous announcements in which Jack's voice snarled through every street and corner, or those enormous statues all over the place, a city one could actually find quite appealing.

The Crimson Raiders hadn't hesitated for a second after the company had withdrawn their forces from most of their bases to take over the town, and eventually it was serving it's meaning in an odd way – just probably not like Hyperion had imagined it. Someone proposed 'New New New Haven' as it's the new name, but that one was obviously knocked off quickly, and now it was, despite several still deserted areas due to it's immense size, filled with life.

They headed right for Moxxi's Inn, a former luxury Hyperion hotel that was now converted to a bar fairly familiar. If of all the things it had to be a hotel and it's conveniences were yet to discuss; however, the bar was cramped as always when they pushed open the glass door, and as they came together at the counter the tenseness of the mission seemed to fall off of every one of them, and they engaged into a brisk conversation about their latest achievements before parting ways.

As Maya pushed herself off the stool, an arm was shoved into his sight, setting a glass filled with liquor to the brim in front of her. Her gaze followed the limb, tracing dried blood and dirt; Axton was grinning at her as he watched her puzzled expression.

“Ya didn't think you'd get away like that, didn't ya”, he snarled, pushing the glass towards her while glassing her with his own.

“Honestly, I was waiting for this. No way I could close an eye tonight after all of that adrenaline”, Maya sighed, turning around.

She followed the commando's lead away from the cramped counter towards a table in one of the corners of the foyer.

The hotel must have been supposed to act for guests way more exalted than the clientele that was swarming around here now – the tables were separated by protruding ferns, chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, glistering slightly in the dim light Moxxi had set the place up with. The cushion of the bench Maya was sliding onto felt expensive, but already familiarly grated from use. She let the palm of her hand run over the smooth wooden surface of the table.

“Moxxi sure picked a nice place here, huh”, Axton commented as he saw her examining the surroundings. “Think we could be makin' this one of our place-to-be when we're at Opportunity already.”

Maya nodded and raised her glass at that, leaning back in her seat as she had found a comfortable position. Her gaze still lingered on him as he sat down in the opposite bench, throwing an arm over the back rest, already lifting his glass to his lips with a smile at her gesture.

“Knew you wouldn't miss out on our occasional pick-me-up.”, Axton said after he gulped down his first sip, visibly shuddering as the alcohol ran down his throat with the slight burn they aimed for. 

“I gotta admit I almost declined, that mission sure got us all to our limits this time again”, she sighed. The burn spread on her tongue as she kept the liquor in her mouth for a moment before gulping.

“True though, they got me this time”, he said, gesturing towards his injured leg. “But there's not a mission that we can't handle. C'mon, we gotta celebrate that!”  
“You're only searching for an excuse to drink 'til dawn”, Maya scoffed, her own glass already at her own lips again. “Only because it's you.” She paused a little too long after that, letting the words melt away on her tongue along with the booze.

“I'm not denying”, he said, lifting up both of his hands, palms facing her. “But ya play along, so better occupy that pretty lips of yours with more drinkin' if you wanna keep up.”  
She grimaced. “I remember damn well that I drank you under the table last time.”

“Ya wish”, he chuckled. “I can't remember anythin' really, but my hangover told me otherwise.”

“Me neither”, Maya admitted with a sigh. “Maybe it was a tie?”

Axton shrugged, glass hovering in front of his lips. The stubble was still there around his jawline, now even more visible when covered in faint splotches of dried blood and dirt that framed the mark on his chin. The siren watched him press his lips against the brim of the glass as he tilted it slightly, taking another sip. “Seems like we gotta repeat that some time”, he grinned.  
“Only if it doesn't involve bar fights.”, Maya countered, letting her gaze flicker back at his eyes again.

“We weren't even tryin' that time, c'mon!”, he sneered. “Man, you're a stoic one.”

“Only doing what it needs to survive around fools like you”, she said with her sweetest smile, gulping down another mouth full of liquor. “who don't know their place when the race has already determined a winner.”

“Sounds like we should keep supplies comin'”, Axton retorted. With a wave of his hand – Moxxi seemed to knew their denizens by now – she brought, hips swaying, two more glasses to their table. Her smirk brightened up as she was close enough. 

“If those aren't my two favorite sweethearts”, she smiled, bending down leisurely as she set down their drinks. “Guess I really found something in both of you after that little incident back at Sanctuary. If that doesn't keep you far from my bar, I must be really lucky. This round's on me.” Her hooded gaze rested on the soldier for a little too long before flickering to the siren who received an alluring wink before Moxxi straightened up again, returning back to her place at the bar. As Maya searched for the soldier's eyes again, he was shooting her an unheeding look. “Feels just like home”, he grinned. “Told ya she wasn't mad because of the fight.”

“Yeah, maybe because that's one of her kinks”, Maya assumed with a shrug. 

“At least she knows how to honor our heroic victory today. Well, before grantin' ya that title, you'll have to work on ya grenade skills quite a bit”, he added grinning. Maya rolled her eyes, corners of her mouth curled up into a scoff.

“I wasn't the one who took a shot to the leg”, she asserted, raising an eyebrow.

“Got me there”, Axton conceded with a sigh. “Guess they caught me off guard there.”

His gaze trailed off as he said that, staring somewhere beyond the smooth wooden surface in front of him. Maya watched him set down his glass, one hand absent-mindedly wandering to his thigh where the blood had dried around the ripped edges of the little hole in the fabric, tracing his lips as he curled them upwards. The attempt of a grin glimmed over his expression, though Maya could tell the guiltiness it tried to cover. And there was something beyond that, something the siren couldn't quite lay her finger on. Something she noticed since their walk back to the Travel Station at the Highlands. 

Maya pursed her lips, hesitating for a moment before opening her mouth. “Speaking of which... You seemed kind of distracted today, on the battlefield.”, she began slowly. The soldier rose his head from the glass in his hands he was fiddling with. “Not just today, the bar fight, too.”

“Was I?”, he echoed, musing. The siren, already having opened her mouth to continue, shut it again before pursuing.   
“Yeah. Before you're beginning to justify – just- just be careful next time.” Her voice was growing oddly quiet as she was tracing the brim of her glass with her index finger, eyes piercing Axton's.  
“Says miss-i-threw-a-grenade-at-my-teammate-today?” 

“I'm not saying I'm doing it any better”, she replied. “I'm just trying to limit your death rate to the absolute necessity.” As she caught his eyes again, hovering between that moment of uncertainty, almost expecting repulse in his look – Axton cracked her a smile.

“Got it. Sorry to bother ya.”

“No witty comment?”, she snarled, remaining her calm composure as a huge weight dropped off her chest.

“I'm dead-serious.”, he coaxed with a grin before sipping on his drink again as if to underline.

“God, cut it out on those lame-ass puns”, she laughed. “And watch out with the booze, I want you to remember that in the morning”

“Just tell me again tomorrow, it's not like I'm getting off ya ass any time soon.”

“Yeah”, Maya uttered at that, gulping down his words with the rest of her glasses content.

They fell into comfortable silence after that, gazes trailing off the table, around the hall. Maya's lingered on the glass between her hands. A feeling she couldn't name was dwelling up in her chest as his words echoed in her head like a song stuck in your mind.

“...Yeah, because of that”, she began again, aiming for her usual calmness as she spoke. Axton caught her gaze, noticing her tone with a frown. “Any news from the headquarters?”  
“I know as much as ya do”, the soldier said leisurely. “We'll know more when we return, I guess. But if the mission was a success and those really were Hyperion's last bases, we just made Pandora a whole lot more safer place. Which is a weird thing to say about this mess of a planet.”

“Hell it is”, Maya sighed. “Sounds like we don't have much time left.”

“To decide where we're goin'”, Axton cited. Hearing those words spoken out left the siren with a dull feeling in her chest. “That's true. I'm really wonderin' where the others will end up.” As he shifted his position, Maya could feel one of his knees brushing her own under the table, warmth spreading though the cloth.

“Me too.” Silence again, only the slight clinging of the almost fully melted ice cubes in their glasses. “Have you...decided yet?” The siren's eyes flickered towards him for a moment before concentrating on the content of her drink again.

“Ya know me since quite a while now, so ya should know the answer”, came back with a chuckle. An answer just as expected. He added his next words after a short pause, calmer this time. “Guess just seein' where it takes me in the end.”

Maya nodded slowly, absorbed in thought shifting her foot to push it against Axton's as if searching something to occupy on. “I wish I could say that, too.”

As she lifted her head again, her eyes met his for the glimpse of a moment, his gaze resting on her so openly, as if yearning to decipher her own. With a blink, that expression was gone with the warmth of his knee against hers as he pushed himself up from the table.

“What kind of gentleman I am, leavin' my guest without seconds.”, he coaxed, that trademark grin of his back on his lips, and as Maya had opened her mouth to offer to pay for the drink herself this time, he was already heading towards the bar. She sighed, shifting herself to lean onto the table, pushing away the two empty glasses that caused a trail of condensed water on the smooth surface. 

There were so many options and yet so little. And there was only so much time to push it out of her mind until it eventually came to pass, and that was sooner than suitable for Maya's liking.  
When the commando arrived back at the table, two fresh drinks in his hands, she didn't look up from her hands. He slid into the bench opposite of her again, pushing one of the glasses towards her across the smooth surface. She mouthed a calm 'Thank you' shooting him a glance, not daring to shift an inch, fibres in her body oddly tensed. When his knees pressed against hers again under the table, the warmth returning betweem them as if he never got up, she felt that same heat rising into her cheeks. The siren relaxed against the edge of the table she leaned against, pushing her knee just a little further against his. When she reached out for the glass Axton was offering her, she felt the ghost of his index finger tracing one of her blue marks for a second. Instead of drawing the glass towards her, she left her hand remaining on the table.

“Buying me drinks won't change my mind about the challenge. It's more like killing two birds with one stone.”, she chirped, cracking him a smile as she swirled the content around in her glass.  
“Funny, I was just thinkin' the same thing. Thought if I already score ya off I'd have to at least cover ya drinks for the night”, Axton conveyed with a sneer.

“Watch me.”, Maya said, glass already back at her lips. She took a big gulp with a grin when an unpleasant burn spread on her tongue, more intense than the liquor before. She chugged it down, ending in a cough that caused the commando to frown. 

“Whiskey, really? You know I hate that stuff,”, she pressed out through gritted teeth, eyeing the content of her glass with disgust. “But I always knew you were one for unfair remedies.”

“I play dirty and all, but even I have my dignity, believe it or not”, he avered, staring at the glass between her fingers. “I got you the usual, I swear!”

“Then why is that stuff burning off my throat?”, Maya pouted.

“Because you need to enlarge your horizon one day, M”, Axton chuckled, pushing himself off the seat slightly. “If that's one of ya tricks, your pretty ass is gonna pay for that”, he added imminently, leaning across the table and reaching for her drink. 

“Thanks for sacrifing but I'll get that one myself”, the siren scoffed, pushing at his forearm before he could curl his fingers around the brim.

“I insist, in the end ya get a water and claim it to be a wodka”, the soldier boasted, only to earn a clean kick at his shin under the table that threw him off his balance; the glass toppled over with a cling, spilling it's content all over the table. Maya yelped when she felt the cold liquid soaking the cloth of her lap, followed by a suppressed curse from the soldier.

“You better pay for my drinks for the rest of the night if you want to make that up”, the siren piped, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. 

“Didn't mean to do that, jesses, just lemme have a look, I'm sure we can fix that”, Axton uttered suppressing a snort and leaned in, hands stemmed on the edge of the table. 

“We're lucky you're not that clumsy on the goddamn battlefield”, Maya scoffed as he came so close she could make out the faint line between his brows that emerged when he was concentrating on something. His lips were slightly opened, curled into a smile as he glanced at her.

“Everythin' I do on the battlefield has a purpose, so who says everythin' I do outside from it doesn't?”

His sound level being barely above a whisper only underlined his hoarse voice, that seemed to sound throaty even if not rough from shouting commands over the noise of guns and bandits or from the alcohol. Maya shot him a glare, shoving at his chest just light enough not to push him away from her. “Idiot”, she breathed out, eyes lingering on his chapped lips that were grinning in amusement now. She felt him shift, warm fingers brushing one of her strands back just an inch, running over the skin just beyond her jawline as she tilted her head back too meet his eyes with hooded lids, warmth radiating from his skin as he was so close that it would only need a little push and - 

 

“Axe, M, you gotta see this!!!”, a way too exited for Axton's liking voice cut through the background noises of the bar around them. The soldier flinched upright at the footsteps that came running towards their table, a glance at Maya at the corner of his eyes telling him she did the same. He let himself fall back on his bench, his back hitting the back rest barely when Gaige appeared behind one of the ferns, a big smile imprinted on her face.

“Sal and I had this super awesome idea to – well, let's call it explore – the city a bit If we're here already! I mean, when do you get the opportunity – haha, see what I did there? - again to get an insight on Hyperion's super secret architectural masterpieces??”, she sang, hopping from one foot on the other while snorting to her own joke.

Axton blinked at her. “What?”

“Most of those huge ass buildings – like this one here – are vacant, so that's our chance! We're beginnin' with this hotel!”, the mechromancer grinned. “You in for a little fun?”

As he turned his head at the siren, they exchanged a helpless shrug. “Why not?”, Maya chimed in, patting at her damp pants as she was getting up. Axton fished a napkin from the neighbor's table and handed it to her.

“The fuck, I thought incontinence would occur later in the days?”, Gaige muttered as she turned around to lead them to the back of the foyer.

“Axton, in all of his beauty and grace, spilled a drink on me”, Maya taunted, nudging the soldier's shoulder as they followed the teen through the remaining crowd.

“Was I interruptin' anythin ya say?”, Gaige sneered with a grin even more huge than the one before.

“Not at all”, Axton pressed through gritted teeth, cracking her an annoyed smile, receiving another hit from the siren for that who rested her knuckles against his arm for a moment longer this time. “We were just talkin' about what to do if this here is all over, and all signs show that will be in a couple of days. Ya got any ideas already, Gaige?”

“Nah, I didn't know all my life what I would be doin' later, so I sure as hell won't figure that out in a week all of the sudden”, she vowed, pushing open the back door. As Maya pushed through the crack after her, his eyes lingered on the back of her neck that was flushed in a faint red, the tips of his fingers tingling with the sensation of her soft skin from just moments ago.

He shut the door behind them with a low groan, befogging the corridor they were knocking in now in a dim half shade. Until now, he hadn't realized his luck seemed to have that short of an expire date.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up.

***

As Opportunity was left behind in the unfinished, haywired state they remembered it from their first visit at earlier missions, most of the buildings laid empty and abandoned, towering over the numerous multi story architectures whose polished surfaces gleaming in Elpis' sparse light. The Crimson Raiders hat already claimed some former hotels and apartment complexes for themselves, but most parts of the city still laid quiet and deserted. They passed the small shops familiar from Sanctuary people had set up in the expensive mall passages, further into the town. The market places were decorated with banners and pennants, which made the state-of-the-art architecture seem the slightest bit haimish if it weren't for the typical color-coded smooth surfaces on every constructure.

Their small group convened at one of the small squares. Judging from Salvador's red cheeks he had been at the bar with Gaige and the two of them fell into each other's arms, acting like they hadn't seen in days. Krieg greeted them with a wave that was a little too excessive for the short distance between them. There was no chance making out any signs of drunkenness with that mask, but Maya wasn't sure if his behaviour would even change after a few drinks since it was already quite ...special. The siren decided she was better off not finding that out. She waved back at him, shooting him a warm smile. Zer0 was absent, probably sitting somewhere on the top of one of those tall buildings around them, watching over the milling crowd from a safe distant.

“That alien slowpoke is missin' out on all the fun!!”, Gaige was complaining as Maya and Axton catched up on them. “So girlfriends, where do we start?”, the mechromancer asked into the circle they formed.

“As long as they got hotel bars with booze, I'm comin'”, Salvador slurred with a grin.

“I always wanted to taste the fountain of their limbo first hand!!!”

“Looks like me and Krieg are goin' to their headquarters, that's gonna be a gem! And you two?”, Gaige she said, turning to the commando and the siren.  
“That penthouse over there looks interesting”, Axton stated. “Always wanted to know how a manager at Hyperion feels like”

“What about you, pretty blue lady?”, the psycho opined, though his voice still being at his usual slightly exaggerated volume, he seemed to try really hard to keep it down this time.

Maya blinked at him. “I-”

The soldiers sudden movement beside her interrupted her in her surprise as she felt Axton's firm arm reaching around her waist, pulling her close.  
“She's comin' along. Sal, I guess they will have tons of booze at the headquarters, that's what it was like at Dahl”

“Sweet!!”, Salvador sang, linking arms with Gaige.

“Aight folks, let's say we meet here in a couple o' hours? And don't forget to share your findings!”, the teen pronounced, raising her fist in the air. “Onward!!”  
The exited chattering of the others veered away from them slowly as they parted ways. The penthouse the two of them were heading to laid quiet in the moonlight, occasional dark holes of unfinished windows gaping into the night. The foyer hall had the same high ceilings as the hotel earlier, every surface glimmering polished. The construction was immense; Hyperion really didn't save any money on their city former deemed as the centre of their empire.

Their footsteps echoed from the walls, the quiet beep of the elevator cutting through the silence. When it's doors swung open, the soldier let Maya slip out of his arm he had laid around her waist for their way here and entered the small cabin. Only now the chilling temperature around them occurred to Maya and she shivered slightly as she joined him, eyes wandering around the hall until the doors closed.

“I mean, the abbey was pretty huge and impressive, but I don't wanna know what they shelled out for all of that here”, she alleged and watched Axton press some buttons until he came across one that worked.

“Yeah, Dahl's headquarters is nothin' against that”, the soldier endorsed. “Too bad that whole city will end up as a dilapidated mess like everythin' on this planet...”  
The elevator's doors opened and they stepped out into a carpeted hallway. Apparently, the emergency generator somewhere in the basement seemed to still work; flickering lamps on the walls were enlightening the corridor.

“Damn, I don't wanna know how many firstborns ya were supposed to sell so ya can live here”

“In addition to your soul, I mean who wants to live in a city lead by Handsome Jack”, Maya taunted. They were strolling along the hallway, rattling at doors occasionally.

“Man, if it weren't for all of those stealth missions we already had I'd feel pretty badass now”

“Yeah, would've been more fun if the company would be still at their bloom and you could get into serious trouble for this”, the siren scoffed.

“Come on party pooper, let's have some fun, we earned it!”, Axton pleaded, pushing open the next door to their right that led into an enormous living room – scratch that, it just seemed to be the entrance hall of the apartment.

“Jackpot!”, he chirped, grabbed the siren's wrist and pulled her inside.

Everything was kept in lurid, light colours, the Hyperion colour-code even gleaming through in the apartment themselves. The living room was huge, framed by a broad window front that looked out on the town and the ocean beyond where the stars glistered at the horizon. Several pieces of furniture were already placed around the apartment; as she walked around the corner, Axton was letting himself fall onto the biggest king-size-bed Maya had probably ever seen.

“Wasn't that attached to my soul anyway, I mean you consider livin' with Hyperion if you get this in exchange – dude, I think this is a water bed. C'mon, don't stand around like that!”, he laughed, patting a spot besides him on the mattress that wobbled under his touch. “Looks like I chose the wrong employer back then”

“This way or the other you still did, moron”, Maya scoffed, folding her arms. “I'd rather check out something else first”

With that, she turned around, strolling through the apartment until she found what she searched for. As she pushed the door open, the lights flickered on in the tiled room – revealing half of it being an in-ground bathtub.

“That's what I'm talking about, come here Ax!”, she shouted.

“Is that your way of telling me that I smell?”, the soldier taunted as he arrived at the door. The siren cowered at the edge of the tub already, letting water run into it.  
“I'm just saying we walked around today a lot and my feet feel like crap, so let me have my moment of relaxation!”, she reckoned as she kicked her shoes off and pulled up the seam of her pants. She gestured him to join her, lifting her legs over the edge and dipping them into the water.

“I bet Sal could swim a whole lane in that”, Axton said as he sat down next to her, letting his boots drop to the ground with a soft thud. The water swashed against the tiled walls of the tub as he dipped his feet in as well. “Jeez, that was a good idea for once.”

“Told you. I'm full of those.”

“You're full of crap at most”, he pointed out, kicking at the water that caused a splash of it to soak one of her legs.

“Jesus Axton are you trying to steep me from head to toes today?”, she hissed as the soldier snorted.

“Ya got somethin' blue there, just tryin' to get that off”, he rehearsed, and the siren groaned. With a swift motion she lifted her soaked leg, shoving at the soldier with her foot placed right between his shoulder blades which caused him to slip over the edge with a surprised grunt. Axton landed on his knees in the water that would be at his knee level by now, and his clothes immediately absorbed the liquid like a thirsty skag. Maya's cheering laughter was echoing from the walls; she wasn't even trying to hold it in any more. He propped himself up again, wavering due to the slippery tiles under his bare feet and turned around to her.

“Speakin' of unfair remedies earlier, huh?”, he said with a bitter grin, running a hand through his soaked hair.

“I don't care, that's too hilarious”, Maya snickered, holding her stomach with both hands. “Your mouth just needed a good wash from all the shit you're talking all day.”

“Jaunty are we much, today?”, the soldier conveyed, wringing out the seam of his shirt. He tilted his head, as if considering something; Maya watched a drip of water falling from his nose, the broad grin still imprinted on her face. “Let's make it up – out for a hug?”, he appended, spreading his arms as he stepped towards her through the water that sloshed around his knees.

“Just giving you what you deserve, no need to make something up”, Maya chirped, though her muscles tensing up as he didn't stop coming closer. “For real, I swear if you touch me like that-”

“Oh come on, I didn't thank ya for getting' me up during combat today!”, he sang; only a few meters seperated them now. Maya played with the thought of jumping on her feet for a second, but her stubbornness kept her from that.

“Stay right there big boy, I like my clothes dry as they are!!”

“Me too, ya know!”, he pointed out, bending down and cupping a good amount of water with his hands he splashed into her direction. Maya let out a sharp yelp and hoiked her arm trying to block it off to no avail; the soldier took use of her oscitancy and reached her with a few last leaps until he was at the edge of the tub, already hunkering over the siren.

“Get away from me!!”, Maya squealed laughing, raising her hands to shove him away, but Axton had already grabbed both of her wrists. “Noononononono-” In her last attempt of avoiding him she leaned back, turning away her face as she felt his heavy body over her, the soldier pulling her close to make sure she got the most out of his dripping clothes. She felt her own begin to soak, the cold water sending chills down her spine.

“Asshole!!”, she shouted as he pulled her into his embrace with a low chuckle that – or the cold water, yes, definitely the cold water – made her shiver a little bit more.  
“Just giving ya what ya deserve”, he echoed, grinning widely. She could feel his pulse racing as he was pushed so close to her, one hand still wrapped around her arm, the other resting on her back to keep her from escaping. As she turned her head to him she met his eyes, resting on her deeply amused.

There was water running down from strands of his hair that were usually slicked back, but dangled in front of his forehead now. One rolled down his chin, tracing his firm jawline before dripping down and ending up on Maya's cheek. It felt cool against the heat that was pounding under her skin, and she felt herself gulp as her gaze flickered over those smiling lips so close to her that she would just need a little push and – she pushed that thought away almost immediately, feeling the heat flush into her cheeks as she looked into his eyes again. His breath came out in little huffs that brushed over the sodden skin at her neck, continuing the subtle shivers that pervaded somewhere deep in her chest.

“Maya... I-”, he began, his hoarse voice barely excelling a whisper.

The siren held her breath, hesitating, anticipating his next words.

He must have misinterpreted that, because a moment later he was letting her slip out of his embrace slowly, and Maya cursed herself silently for her lack of forwardness in some situations.

“Sorry 'bout that”, he pondered as his gaze slipped down her body, and the irony in his tone outdid the excuse immediately. Maya took a moment before realizing he meant her soaked clothes.

“You'll pay for that, sweetie. I didn't use my phaselock since a while.”, she snickered, wondering if her cheeks looked as bad as she felt. The slight flinch in his expression told her she was fighting with the right arguments. As Axton climbed out of the tub and proceeded on wringing out the seam of his pants that formed little puddles on the tiled floor, Maya fumbled with her hair, trying to get it back in place. She was pretty sure she didn't succeed at that, judging from the amused look on the soldier's face as he held out his hand to her.

She let her hand slip into his; he pulled her up with a quick motion, and when their hands separated he gave hers a little squeeze before letting go.

“We should get ourselves dried up if we don't wanna have the others ask weird questions”, the soldier uttered, already heading for the door.

“I wouldn't mind staying here for a bit longer anyway ...if I think about the chaos when everyone tries to share the loot later”, Maya added quickly as she followed him outside the bathroom. Her eyes were locked on the back of his head, but she didn't need to see his face in order to hear the smile in his voice at his next words.  
“There are a few missin' windows, we could use the night's breeze to take care of that”, he said, gesturing towards the window front.

They sat down next to each other, legs dangling over the edge over what were possibly several hundreds of meters over the adjoined roofs. The horizon already gleamed with a faint streak of morning light that barely enlightened the dark sky. The sounds of the city sounded distant, always dipped into the slight rushing of the sea.

“Ax”

“Yeah?”

“Isn't Dahl one of the leading companies alongside Hyperion?”

“Yeah, obviously”

“Wouldn't their headquarters be a little bigger than some penthouse then?”

“...I guess so”

“...You never were at their headquarters, am I right?”

“Jeez, ya know me too well. Just didn't feel like babysittin' Sal along, ya know?”, Axton sighed; Maya had nothing to argue about that.

They looked out at the sea again that reflected the faint glimmer of the stars above, swaying in the calm waves. Their shoulders bumped against each other almost naturally, and Maya tilted her head to the side, settling it on the commando's damp shoulder.

“Before you tell me how ya plan payin' that back to me”, Axton began, voice hoarse from falling silent for so long, “I- have to talk to ya about somethin'.”

The siren frowned at that, but gestured faintly with her hand for him to continue, letting it fall back into her lap leisurely. “Sure, go ahead”

“You wondered why I seemed so distracted today, right?”, he asked, eyes still fixed on the ocean beneath them. His voice was unusually calm, with no sign of his witty tone.

The siren lifted her head, searching for his eyes with a frown. “Yeah?”

“I wasn't sure if I even tell anyone but... I'd kinda feel guilty if I won't.”, he avered. The siren stared at him. After a short pause, he turned towards her and shrugged with his shoulders before blurting out his next words with just slightly too little emphasis to make it sound even more ridiculous. “I got a message from Dahl, they asked me to resume my position.”

Maya felt her mouth open in surprise.

“What?!”

“Got it this mornin', I must've looked the same like ya do now when I checked it. They really want me to come back, promote me even after they found out about our little spree with Hyperion here.”

“Are you fucking with me right now?”

“Scratch the 'with' and I wish was but – no, I'm serious. I can show it to ya if y-”

She pulled an annoyed grimace at that, but curiosity quickly took over again. “No, it's fine. Just – why now? Didn't they want you dead? They must be kidding.”

“Maybe they're afraid they're the next company we'll take on, in case they have plans on taking over the world. I hope they don't.”, he appended with a raised eyebrow. “We're pretty powerful after all, so they want a piece o' that.” With his last words, he lifted up his arm and flexed his biceps – the siren ignored that and his sneer.

“It doesn't matter what they're planning or what they want, that can only be some absurd trap”, Maya went on, fiddling with the seam of her glove in her lap. She felt something coil in her stomach, a bother she didn't really know where it derived from, and that made her even more annoyed. “Who exactly thinks he can-”

“Yeah, it was my ex-wife. Sarah.” By the sound of that woman's name, Maya felt a sting in her chest. “Wrote a real novel with all sorts of arguments and pros why it would be a sweet idea to return to that dump after unleashin' special forces for huntin' me down.”

“If this is a joke, you're not funny”, she uttered in disbelief. “That's ridiculous.”

“O' course it is, so I told them to go to hell. Wanna know how?”

“How?”, Maya echoed; she simply was out of words by now, shaking her head. Her voice was shaking from her attempt to restrain the fury that closed up her throat.  
“Printed out a quit, signed it and sent it right back there, rolled up with the goddamn ring around it.” He grinned broadly, looking incredibly satisfied with himself. “Couldn't think of a bigger Fuck You that fast, but I just wanted it to get done.”

Maya couldn't help but smile bitterly at that. Her hands were clenched into fists now, and she stared at them in her lap. She was chewing on her lip until the familiar taste of metal emerged.

She felt Axton lean forward a bit beside her in order to get a better view of her face. “M?”

“I just don't get it”, she blurted out; her voice was cracking slightly, but she continued anyway. “I don't get where in the heavens she got that courage from, that fucked up self-imagery that she's condign to approach you like that.” She was turning to him now, eyes locking firmly with his. Her calm composure was gone, dispatched minutes ago. “And for hell I can't watch you get crazy over something that's in the past, and was absolutely not your damn fault.”

Axton stared at her, hands helplessly laying at his sides. His brows were furrowed deeply as he traced her expression, searching for the next thing to say. Maya knew he wasn't good with words, but she was even better. “I don't care what caused you two to fight, but you certainly didn't deserve that.” She spat out the last word with a disgust the soldier believed he had never heard of her, needless to say she wasn't referring to the circumstances but the woman herself.

The commando averted his eyes, a bitter smile forming on his lips. “Gotta admit, I always was a ladies man. People man. Whatever. But I always thought if ya find the right one, if it goes down with marriage and all, ya know, that was a one way thing. That and all of your commitment. Had to learn it the hard way, obviously” He let out a dry laugh that only underlined his hoarseness. “But if nothin' breaks nothin' moves, I guess.”

Maya took in a sharp breath, gnawing at her lip again. Her short nails were digging into the heels of her hands as she tried to press out her next words, when deliberately, Axton slipped his hand around one of hers, slowly brushing over the back of her hand with his thumb in a soothing manner.

“I just don't get how someone could waste that”, she brought out.

“I already accepted my fate as a lone wolf, ya know,” he said with a low chuckle, tilting his head upwards slightly, gazing at the stars. “I just thought trusting people just weren't for me. You kinda get that attitude if shit happens to you, guess ya can tell. And I certainly thought y'all were a bunch of maniac weirdos when I ran into ya on that train, but look at me now.”

He lifted their entwined hands, squeezing hers slightly. “Holdin' hands with one now.”

Maya followed his motion with her eyes, taking a deep breath she didn't know she was needing until now.

“Shit- sorry, I dunno what I'm talkin' 'bout, really”, Axton sighed, scratching at the back of his neck with his other hand as he let their hands fall back into his lap again. “Just doesn't occur much that someone gets that emotional with a thing that happened to - just me, years ago.”

“It's not 'just you'”, Maya mumbled. “I just- I can't stand people treating y-... others like shit.”

“Anyway, it means a lot to me.” The irony was completely drained out of his tone by now. Maya believed she had never heard him talk like that, or rarely at least – that side of the soldier often emerged only at their drinking nights, in the late, calm hours. She wasn't even sure if any other teammate of them ever got to see it.

“I can't think how my life would have went without runnin' into all of ya. People that actually care about ya. People that don't order ya around like you're some kind of dog, don't question where you've been all night, that don't shout at ya for not puttin' down the goddamn toilet seat every day. I was a grown-ass man and didn't know how freedom felt like because I was controlled at the same time by my boss and the tyrant I called my wife once. That's over now, and I never believed it to be. Well, there's still dirty dishes in the sink all the time and I don't even know if Gaige pees sittin' down, but ya get the hint, I guess.” He curled one corner of his mouth up into a faint smile. “Can't think of my life without all of you.”

Maya felt her muscles relax slightly, and her straight posture abated. She nodded slowly. “I get your point.”

“I can't think of my life without messin' around, without fightin' over loot or the place the nearest to the fire.”, he laughed, gaze lowering to his lap again where Maya's pale skin stood out against his toned one, hands wrapped around each others.

“Or without the bar nights.”, he added, milder this time. She watched him turn around to her, eyes resting calmly on hers. “Without the drinkin' challenges, or good ol' bar fights. I'm sure not many people can say they beat a siren in a drinkin' game.”, he grinned.

“Idiot, and you didn't beat me yet.”, Maya retained. The thought of shoving at his shoulder flickered through her mind, but her arm felt heavy and weary at that point, so she leaned against him, letting her temple bump against his jawline, his stubble scratching slightly over her skin. Warmth spread where their shoulders were pressed against each other as he turned to her with a scoff, banishing the chilliness of their damp clothes.

“Yet”, he repeated, tilting his head slightly to sneer at her. His smile died out slowly as his gaze traced her eyes, the slight flush on her cheeks, the red bruise that stood out against the blue colour of her lips. “Fuck, I'll miss this so much.”

Maya let out a little laugh, rather a huff of air ghosting between them as a chuckle. “Again, I get your point”, she breathed out, no higher volume needed as there were only inches seperating them now. A subtle, bitter tone that fit his frown was lingering in her voice as she spoke, eyes resting on him carefully. Subconsciously, she felt her hand close a little firmer around his, what seemed to act like a last confirmation for the commando.

Maya felt herself hold her breath as Axton leaned in, closing her eyes as he pressed his lips on hers gently. Her cheeks burned hot, and she felt her pulse racing in her chest as his hand loosened around hers, only to wrap it around her waist and pulling her closer, the other one tracing up her back almost reverently, leaving her in shivers. She lifted her own, arms wrapping around his neck as she returned the kiss, lips moving appetently on his. His hand settled against the back of her neck, his thumb brushing along her jawbone as he opened his lips slightly against hers. A sharp exhale escaped Maya, Axton humming along in a deep groan, as she buried her fingers in the strands of his hair.

 

He wasn't even trying to fight the fact that definitely not their intake on alcohol was the reason for their lost sense of time after that. When they left the apartment complex and headed back to the square they were supposed to meet at, the sun had almost fully risen at the horizon.

“Helllooo, we waited for like, ever”, Gaige snarled as they caught up with them, stepping her foot nervously. “What the fuck were you doing for so long, it better be a huge ass load of loot or I'm mad!!”

Axton just chuckled at that; he couldn't remember a time where he could have cared less about running late.

***

 

Although Maya hated to admit, she had always imagined Axton kissing as rough as he spoke or fought in combat. His firm grasp whenever his hand closed around her forearm to pull the siren back on her feet on the battlefield, hoarse voice shouting the most vulgar things at their enemies; just the sight of his tense jawbone, covered in scratches and scars, and those chapped lips he absent-mindedly gnawed on when absorbed in thought behind his interface.

The clash of an inexperienced siren and the forward soldier made their first (conscious) kiss clumsy and to some extend awkward; but as quick as they had found themselves legs dangling over the edge and the faint sound of waves crushing at the shore, bodies pressed against each other firmly, and a few tries they both could not help to suppress a grin about, Axton's lips were as gentle when needed as they were rough in any other way. With every time their lips met anew, the siren had grown more confident, until they had found a pace that was a harmony of both ribaldry and wariness.

The way he had held her, tightly pulling her closer into the kiss, rough hands clasping on her like she was going to run right through his fingers, had been as familiar as the burst of feelings in her stomach had been new. On their way back to Sanctuary they walked close to each other, the soldier's arm wrapped around her slender shoulders, without any excuse of the cold or needing to stabilize due to injury or drunkenness. There were just them, and it had never felt that right.

They returned to Sanctuary after spending their last day at that polished city of glass just when the last warm rays of the sun were crawling over the dusty pavements, greeting them with the crooked buildings and dilapidated structures they were used to. They settled on the upper floor at the headquarters as they waited for the former Vault Hunters, collecting their loot in the middle and sharing stories.

“Ya know what we didn't have had in a long time”, Axton presumed, causing all of their heads to rise from their occupation, “missions with cars.”

“Yeah amigo, the thought of runnin' some fuckers over with the good ol' technical isn't that devious right now”, Salvador asserted.

“The wallop of flesh fragmentizing on the grill, it's missing in my bones!!!”

“How did ya hit on that?”, the gunzerker said after a bewildered peek to the psycho who was piling up shotguns.

“Was just thinkin' I'd actually be better off with all my limbs if it would stay that way”, the soldier added with a glance at the siren besides him, cracking her a scoffing grin.

“Thanks moron, I'm not bringing up all those stealth missions where you can't keep your mouth shut on”, Maya hissed, shoving his shoulder.

“Touché, but who'd wanna miss out on my keen sense of entertainment in a place as boring as the Hyperion headquarters, I mean it was clear they'd catch us at some point-”

“Y'know what I thought of, lately”, Gaige opined, waving a rifle she had picked up from the pile in front of her in Maya's direction, “we should really give ya some driving lessons.”

“Driving lessons? Come on, don't tell me none of you ever flipped their car twice and drove it down a cliff.”, the siren retorted with a raised eyebrow. Salvador opened his mouth at that, but Gaige quickly chimed in.

“Well, none of us died in that process, so ya clearly have some pent-up demand there lady”, she pointed out.

“Who will be the one? / As I doubt that we will find / One to risk his life. Over and over, that is.”, Zer0 said, looking up from a sniper rifle in his hands.

“Well, you don't have to drive with me after all”, Maya snarled, shooting Axton a glare as she spotted his amused grin. Zer0 let a resigned emoticon flash over his helmet.

“How 'bout lil' Axe here?”, Salvador pronounced.

His grin died on the spot. “What?”

“Yeah man, you're the only one to ever receive actual driving lessons”, the mechromancer said, waving the rifle in his direction now; Axton's eyes flickered to her finger hovering loosely over the trigger nervously.

“I'm also the only one to ever fail an actual driving test”, he butted in, at his turn to receive a grin from the siren at his side now.

“Well, since Sal will supposedly only make it worse, I'm technically underage and Zer0's – well, Zer0 – I'm pretty sure Krieg wouldn't have a problem with dying in a huge fire ball and vehicle fragments flyin' around a few times a day -”

Axton's eye twitched. “Aight, I'm doin' it, I'm doin' it!”, he blurted out.

A pale hand slid around his upper arm, the faint weight of the siren being pressed against his side eventually as she leaned in. “You owe me at least a drink tonight for that, and I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with just that”, she hissed impendingly, although the soldier could clearly make out an amused undertone in her voice.  
“Nothin' to object here”, he replied, grinning.

“Nice to hear you're already making plans for the future”, Lilith's voice emerged from the hallway. The siren leaned against the doorframe lazily, followed by Mordecai and Brick who stopped behind her. “Glad you all made it here, Mordy here brought some news that might actually interest you.”, she said, gesturing towards the hunter. At that, all heads rose again, eyeing him curiously.

“Appereantly, Hyperion got their shit together after all, now. Seems like they are hunting for the new Vaults as well. Don't know what else we expected either, but there it is. We decided it might be better if we preserved the resistance on Pandora since that's kinda the home planet of the whole cult, and of Eridium which is needed for charging the Vault keys in the first place.”

“Concerning you sweeties now, in order to structure our plans and ressources we need to know if any of you want to stay on Pandora, or if you'll be leaving and hunting for the Vaults yourself, or retire, whatever floats your boat. This way or the other, we know where to increase our fronts in order to kick those robo fuckers' asses”, Lilith added, arms crossed over her chest. “So, what do you want to do?”

Axton felt something drop in his stomach. Pushing away a decision only worked to a certain extend, until it overhauled one.

Their little team all just looked at each other, the soldier looking at faces as helpless as his own. He felt oddly aware of Maya's warm hand in his own; the siren averted her eyes, letting her blue strands cover her face as he turned around to her.

Salvador was the first to raise his voice after the silence that had spreaded in the room. “Wouldn't say No to seeing some new places, those Vaults sound like fun to me”, Salvador laughed.

“I got a job offer at Maliwan last month as an engineer, so I can kinda work from whereever”, Gaige said, shrugging.

“I strive for challenge / New Vaults sound rather stirring / I will leave as well”, Zer0 phrased, leaving Brick in a deep frown for the rest of the conversation.

“The mutual flesh should never be left alone!!!”, Krieg shouted.

“That means he's comin'”, Gaige added at the confused faces of the former Vault Hunters. “Axe, M, what 'bout you?”

The commando cleared his throat, pausing timidly. “I, uh. Wherever it takes me, I guess”, he said eventually.

“You're really in, too? Guys, do you get what this means? This will be aa-maaaaz-ing!”, Gaige sang, jumping on her feet, dropping her voice a few octaves now as if announcing the players of a game on television. “Reunited and in sight of new adventures, the fearless Vault Hunters take on another competition! Those warriors and wannabe-vault-hunters and whatever the fuck is out there can tread warily with us in the game!!!”

Salvador lifted his fist in the air. “We'll be unconquerable, man!”

Krieg agreed with a grunt, waving his axe, and a grin slowly spread on the other's faces (or helmets).

“If there's loot, count me in”, Axton said with a smirk.

Lilith smiled. “Good, then we don't need to worry about competing with them out there. If that's set now, there's a shuttle leaving tomorrow if you wanna leave soon. If you need anything, just let us know.”

Gaige turned around to her sitting teammates as they left for the stairs, hopping from one foot to the other. “This is nice. This is awesome! Not only are we like the most badass people on the planet right now, I mean we killed fucking staple-face, no, we even got a freakin' siren so those Vaults will be opened in no time!!”

Axton felt Maya's hand slip out of his, and as he turned around to her, the siren was already on her feet. The smile on his face died as he spotted a glimpse of her expression before she turned her face away for them to see; her jaw was clenched, brows furrowed in a frown. “Sorry, I- gotta go get some fresh air”, she stammered faintly, storming out of the room, leaving the others behind puzzled.

“She on her period?”, Salvador muttered, earning a kick to the shin from Gaige at which he tipped to the side, groaning angrily. The mechromancer shot Axton an asking glance, but the soldier just shrugged his shoulders. He stared at the doorway, Maya's expression imprinted in his mind like a brand.

He knew that expression. He knew it damn well.

Without a second of hesitation, he jumped to his feet, rushing out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8

The town laid quiet, dark clouds dragging along the nightsky, glistering stars peeking through it along with the faint moonlight that enlightened the streets slightly. He found her after minutes, at the end of one of the dead-end streets who were ripped apart during Sanctuary's rise in the air, curled up against the ruins of a mural at the edge of the pavement.

Axton slowed down his pace, breath coming out in huffs as he approached her, stopping a few meters before.

“That seat taken?”, he asked bluntly.

“What do you want?”, Maya responded sharply, still facing the abyss rather than turning around to him. Axton couldn't help but notice the slight tremble in her voice.

Without awaiting an answer or giving one himself, he settled beside her, letting his legs dangle over the edge. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, to look into her face she had turned away from him. Although she wasn't trying to facilitate that process, she wasn't turning further away either.

“Hey, what was that?”, Axton said calmly, watching her strands wave in the mild wind slightly.

“It's nothing”, she said. 

“Nothin' my ass, come on.”, he alleged, piercing her. “I may be a socio-phobic idiot but even I can see that somethin's goin' on.”

Maya turned her head away, arms crossed in front of her chest so firmly he could see her muscles tensing up at his words. Her pale skin stood out in that moonlight, almost glowing in its rays.

Axton wiggled out of his jacket and put it around her shoulders, hands lingering on her back a little longer than needed before drawing back. His hand rested between the two of them for a moment before Maya slid hers under it, entwining them.

“I- I'm sorry for running off like that”, she said, voice barely louder than a whisper. Axton shook his head.

“Don't be. Just tell me what bugs your pretty ass, little tough one.”, he said, squeezing her hand gently.

Maya tilted her head, the back of it resting against the mural, letting out a voiceless sigh. Axton's eyes rested on her with a frown until she began to speak.

“It's just … I wasn't ready for that back there. I've thought about it so many times, but never came to an end. I knew it had to go on somehow after the Vault and all, but I just haven't made up my mind yet. I... guess I kind of snapped.”

She fell silent for a few seconds after that. “Ridiculous, huh.”, she uttered.

Axton brushed over the back of her hand with his thumb slowly.“It's not. The future's scary, I mean, we're probably Hyperion's most wanted now, but hey, where's the thrill if we weren't.”, he chuckled. “Just stay with us 'till ya have an idea.” 'Stay with me', he wanted to say, but the words stuck in his throat.

“It's not- it's not that I don't want to.” She seemed to be searching for words helplessly. “I can't.” Maya averted her eyes, jaw clenching again. 

“How's that?”, Axton said, puzzled.

“I'm not sure if I'm any good enough.”

“Are ya kiddin', M, you're one badass siren. You're one badass woman, for god's sake. You saved each one of our asses a million times out there, mine probably twice as much. And you're sayin' you're not any good?” He snorted, raising her an eyebrow.

“That's not what I mean, idiot.”, she asserted. Her fingers fumbled with the collar of his jacket, and she turned his head, eyes locking with his. “Look. I have no idea if there's any other way to open the Vaults, but apparently you do it with Eridium. The whole freaking world is going for the Vaults now, thanks to the fuzz Hyperion made about it. I'm honest, I have no idea what the heck I'm doing with my powers, really. I learned to live with them, but I don't know if I'll ever be able to control them at their full extend.” She gulped. “There are only six sirens at a time in the entire universe, and two of them are already gone, and they and Lilith are clearly superior. There is not much of a wide choice if you want to get your own one to open a Vault.”

“You know that I will account for anyone that lays a hand on you, and that the others will do so too.”, Axton said through gritted teeth. 

“I'm- that's not what I'm concerned about.”, Maya said slowly. “I mean that we will be the centre of attention when we travel in that group as it is now. I don't want to endanger anyone of you more than you already are, regarding Hyperion and all those bounty hunters.”

“We made it so far, M, that lil' fuzz won't throw us off the tracks. At least not again, surely don't recommend the Hyperion express another time.”

“Axton, you don't get it”, she said, pressing her words out, her other hand clenched in her lap. The soldier fell silent, watching her turn around to him again. “I'm- I'm not saying I'm not any good for us. I mean for you.”  
“You're talkin' to the guy who flew outa the military and is wanted dead by his boss slash ex-wife.”, Axton grinned, but Maya let out a frustrated grunt. As she spoke again, her gaze rested on him piercingly, brows furrowed.  
“You saw what that whole siren thing did to Roland and Lilith. It just gets you in danger.”

“He was the leader of a freakin' resistance, of course he was in danger”, Axton reckoned, but Maya ignored that.

“Sirens are everyone's interest after the discovery of the new Vaults. And there's clearly not much of a choice here.”, she said with a bitter grin. “You know – I … I love the idea of travelling with all of you. We're one family after all, and I don't want this to end.” He felt her grip strengthen around his hand. “I don't want this to end.”, she repeated faintly.

Axton suppressed a grunt deep in his throat. “You don't have to! Shit, if ya don't want to hunt down Vaults, so be it! No one urges ya to do any Eridium shit or Vault opening whatsoever.” He let the hand he had gestured with fall down to his lap helplessly. “You don't have to do this.” 'You don't have to leave me', were the words that burned on his tongue. “We can submerge somewhere, I'll make damn sure no one will find out about you and the whole siren stuff and all. I mean, I sorta got experience with submerging.”

“That's not the same-”, she began, but Axton cut her off. 

“It goddamn is, Maya.” He felt a heat coil in his stomach, felt his shoulders tense up. “It's the same as it is with me. We're both running away from out problems.”

The siren turned her head at him with a stunned expression. “...Running away from problems? You call not being able to chose your goddamn race running away from a problem, Axton?”

“I didn't chose my wife to be a crazy head hunter either, fuck!”, he groaned. “I didn't chose for that whole fuckin' train to head where it's goin', didn't chose to end up as Hyperion's most wanted or shit like that. But I chose you, and I chose to stay with you, and a whole planet, hell, the whole world should goddamn well try to stop me from that.”

“I- I'm not you, okay?!”, Maya avouched. If before she was holding at least the glimpse of her usual calm composure still, it was gone now. “I have never been some reckless bummer that can outsmart the system, and I'll never be. I ran away from that damn abbey because I can't do that. I have something to lose- s-someone to lose, and I- I can't take this, Axton” Her last words died with her voice as she grew calmer and calmer, her free hand clenching the seam of his jacket in her lap.

“You know what”, Axton said bitterly, “me neither. I'm not outsmartin' anything. I'm just running away, too.”

With that, he raised their entwined hands, leading hers to the pocket of the jacket around her shoulders. Maya frowned as he pushed her hand in, until her fingers brushed over something small, smooth, round.

“I was runnin' away and I still am”, Axton said as she fished the ring out of the pocket. Her eyes were widened, mouth opened slightly. Words were stuck in her throat, her grasp on the soldier's hand flagged as she stared at the little object reflecting the moonlight, as if trying to understand what it was.

But she knew damn good what it was.

“I'm not sayin' that it's an okay thing to do. I fucked up, there's no way around that“, said Axton after a pause, though eyeing Maya as she let the hand she held the ring with fall into her lap loosely. Her hand felt limp in his own. “And you won't be off any better. What I'm sayin' is just that it's human. ...siren. You get me.”

“It's not like I have anything to lose”, she said calmly. Her voice was barely rising over the soft rustling of the winds of the night.

“What's that about now?”

“I have to admit, it made the world seem not as bad as I thought it to be when I learned that there is another option than walking Pandora on my own. And I believed it would stay like this, at some point or another. But I guess that just isn't for me. I've just been trying to run from my goddamn fate.“ She let out a dry laugh. “And here I am, can't even drive a car and have the only person that actually meant something to me not giving a shit”  
The next instant, the warmth of her hand between his was gone. “If there's one thing the abbey taught me, it's that everybody around you will tell you small lies”

She stood up, drawing away from him as the commando could only stare at her oddly, watching her pass him until she stopped in the middle of the street a few feet away from him.

“Except the people that are important to you, who will tell you the large ones.” She looked him firmly in the eyes speaking her last words, and Axton felt a shiver run down his spine when he noticed how cold it was. “And I can do well without that.”

With that, she turned around, all signs prefiguring that those were her last words for the evening.

Axton stared at her figure, slowly disappearing in the shadows casted over the streets, pale skin devoured by the night, the last sentence wavering through his head like the faint feeling of a bad dream. Maybe that was what he was in right now, judging from the heat coiling up in his stomach.  
With a few quick motions, he stood upright, fists clenched hanging down to his sides. “You can call me anythin' ya want” His eyes were fixed on the back of her head, “but I'm not lying.”

“Up yours, Axton” Her voice was trailing off nonchalantly, a bitter undertone seeping through as she reached the corner of the street, mimicking a wave over her shoulder.

The soldier felt himself grit his teeth, fingernails digging into his thenars, and with a few steps he had caught up with her, his grip locking around the siren's wrist. “I'm not done here, and so aren't you”, he resented, his voice coming out as a low grunt from the back of his throat.

 

She froze, the muscles of her forearm tensing up. Rough fingers way too firm for that frail skin, that tender wrist. Axton watched her stop with gritted teeth, being drawn backwards slightly by his tug, still facing the street and away from him. “You're not walkin' away from me like this. I didn't rip my ass open those past weeks- fuck, months for freakin' nothin'. I don't act like this around people who don't mean shit to me. If that's not enough for ya- If I'm not enough for you, say it to my fucking face”

The siren stood still, and the lacking sign of reaction made Axton groan in fury. “Look at me goddammit!!”, he roared, shaking her.

“Allright, stop- stop!! I’ve had enough of your shit, Axton”, she groaned jerking around to him, yanking at his grip to no avail. As their eyes locked, there was a loathing in her gaze the commando only knew from the stories of her past. “I have nothing more to say. You made your choice, and it’s obviously not me”

“My choice?” The commando spat the words out in a laugh. “I don’t remember choosin’ my ex try and hunt me down like an animal. Doesn’t sound that appealin’ if ya ask me. ” He shook her arm with a grunt of frustration, pressing those words out through gritted teeth. The heat was taking over in his head, confounding his thoughts and making his muscles strain a little more than he meant to. “ Yeah, there was another woman in my life, was, so what!? I got some news for ya, that’s how things go, Maya, get out of your cave!! Ya can’t just run away from reality like the goddamn child you are“

He noticed her tense up again, and he could swear those blue marks of hers glimmed slightly under his grip as he went on. “I may swing both ways but I’m not a goddamn two-timer if that’s what your freakin’ problem is”  
“My problem is that you’re head over heels into her still”, she said quietly, pale eyes piercing his. “I can’t believe I really thought you had a thing for me after all” She let out an ironic chuckle, and Axton could feel her joints shift as she clenched her fist in his grip in frustration.

“Didn’t see that stoppin’ ya from gettin’ my hopes up all along”, he snarled. “But I guess that’s just a siren thing, isn’t it”

Instead of the phaselock she went right for the good old slap in the face. She could have used her knuckles for a clean hit, a pretty bruise, but that wouldn’t have underlined her point, Axton thought to himself bitterly as the sharp sting flushed through his nerves. He lifted his hand slowly, fingertips brushing over the sore spot.

“I’m so tired of this”, she said, her voice shaking as she tried to hold back the fury to flow into her tone. “Once it’s not going all nice and easy according to your plan and your pretty little ego gets hurt, you’re all out of it. I’m not into being someone’s toy like that, not again.” The siren ripped her arm out of the commando’s grip, backing off a few steps rubbing her wrist.

“And I thought you’d see more in me than just that siren.”, she said bitterly, letting her hands drop beside her. “I don’t feel like playing everyone’s tool for opening the Vaults. And I sure as hell don’t feel like playing the temporary amusement for a jaundiced soldier who carries the ring of his ex-wife around like a lucky charm.”

Axton took a deep breath, a faint try to calm down his racing pulse and heat. His cheek was throbbing slightly. ‘I have always seen more in you’, he wanted to say. ‘More than you think already.’ But the words were stuck in his throat, it was closing up as if the cold air around him turned into water in his lungs.

“That ring is the only thing that keeps me goin’. But it’s why I’m here – and not there anymore. The whole fuckin’ world shattered to pieces around me, it’s somethin’ to hold on to. Ridiculous, I know. Go ahead and laugh. There’s no other point in it.”

He paused, averting his eyes. “But if that’s what that costs, I’m better off in that hell.”

With a shift movement, he flung the little object behind him, hearing it bounce off the pavement with a soft cling before having the dark swallow it whole as it vanished beyond the edge.

They stood in silence for a moment, the commando letting his hands hang down to his sides in a gesture of defenselessness.

“If ya wanna take it out on me some more, go ahead. Might be your last chance.”, he said with a low chuckle. “I fucked up. I’m not even askin’ for another chance.”

Maya shook her head.  
“I’m just askin’ you to stay.”, he added faintly.

Her expression was cold as she folded her arms. Axton traced her posture wearily, her slender figure standing out against the dark, pale skin and blue marks, and a faint bruise on her wrist. He felt oddly aware of his empty hands, of the chill air lingering around them like shadows. Blue strands danced over the nape of her neck in the wind, a sight so familiar after all those months that would be the faint shade of a memory in only a matter of minutes. Axton would take another hit if he could only feel that soft skin under his fingers again, hold her close one last time. Feel those tender lips on his in an avowal unable to express through words. Hell, he’d run unarmed through Lynchwood if that would be what it took.

“Fuck, I just don’t want this to end yet.”, he said under his breath.

“You know how much I want to believe that”, Maya said eventually, her voice trembling slightly. “But I can’t.” She averted her eyes, brushing his jacket off her shoulders. “We’re done, Axton.”

“Got it.”, he uttered. He wished he did. He wished it was as easy as the words blurting out of him sometimes. And he wished making things up was as easy for him as hurting her.

The commando reached out for his jacket as she handed it to him, both of them lingering to the touch a little more than needed. He stared at the balled up cloth in his hands as he heared the siren walking backwards a few steps hesitatly, enlarging the distance between them.

“The shuttle takes off in a few hours, be sure not to fuck this one up too and miss it”, she said. The corners of her eyes shimmered wet.

“Will do.”, he said with a half-assed grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. She beckoned a brief wave, a mere lift of her hand towards him, as a farewell to something between them that was as big as the gesture was peddling against it.

The siren turned around wearily, burying her hands in her pockets. He watched her figure grow smaller as she headed down the street, further and further away from him.

“Hey, M?”

She stopped, as if she had waited for another comment.

“Let’s marry when we’re thirty. It’s all lost by then anyway. And I got experience. If you’re still alive by then, I mean, someone will let ya drive at some point-“

“Fuck you.” There was not quite a smile, but a scoff when she said that.

And with that, Maya was gone, around the corner at the end of the street, leaving him at the gaping edge where the night poured into the endless starry sky. The commando shivered at the wind that crept over the empty road, gaze flickering to the jacket in his hands.

It had been a nice time while it lasted.

Maybe it was time for a new lucky charm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no happily ever after on Pandora.  
> Only epilogues. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)


	9. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coincidences.

They say, the heart always leads you home.

In Maya's case, that clearly didn't apply. She couldn't imagine a place that was more of an opposite to 'home' than the ailing walls of the abbey and their deceitful inhabitants. And as as little as she missed this place, the little did she want return. Twenty-seven years were a long time to learn to hate something by heart and guts.

The siren had read in books what a 'home' was. She had heard people talk about it, yearningly, loving almost. With dazed eyes, histories of long lost places, front gardens and families. Gaige had often told them about her little house, far away in another galaxy, the old garage where she used to potter around with her dad. Salvador even referred to Pandora as his home, born and raised. And as much as she tried to retrace that term, it just wasn't for her.

Speaking the truth, those rocky hills dipped in orange that flew by the dusty window she leaned against were the closest that got to her definition of “home” for her, too. Home was a place you connected to pleasant memories, people you cherished, a place where you just felt at ease. One could argue now if Pandora was a place where you could ever feel at ease, regarding the constant danger of being blown up in your sleep, but there was always a downside of things.

“Aye missy, where yer from again?” A drawling voice with heavy accent tore her out of her thoughts. She blinked, lifting her head from the cold glass, eyeing it's source.

“Vault Hunter, Marcus, we met.”, she said with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah, right, I got it, yer the siren! Sounded like a hell of a ride yer little adventure, surely was a blockbuster for economy. I'm sorry, I lose the overview sometimes, happens in the business.” The corpulent tradesman threw a grin at her, exposing his shimmering golden teeth. “Say, did yer dye yer hair, I liked the red...”

Maya decided to ignore that one. “It's fine, if I would remember every single face I blew off of someone's body, I'd have turned into one of those psychos too.”, she replied with a shrug, quietly wondering if maybe that was Krieg's problem.

“I see what you did there, nice homage.”, Marcus laughed. “Still glad you knocked that cheat off, it was about time someone called him over the coals. Took yer a long time to get sick and tired of this planet then, didn't it? The announcement was months ago.”

“I... had some matters to arrange, still.”, she said, averting her eyes, gaze trailing back to the landscape that rushed by outside. The old bus was rattling with every bump, and if this weren't Pandora, the siren wasn't sure if she would have got on it in the first place.

“Anyways, the ferry takes off at dusk, and we have had a good head start. So can yer refresh my old, rusty memory again, why Aquator out of all, I've only seen it on those brochures – crystal clear water, white beaches, yer wanna take a holiday from all the adventure?”

“It's a nice epiphenomenon in opposite to the desert around here, but no”, she said, leaning back in the bus bench. “Still Vault hunting.”

“That explains the rush today, I told those other guys I set off this mornin' that holiday season is over, too.”

“Is that so”, the siren uttered. She assumed there would be a few feisty adventures going for the new vaults, but so far she had pushed the point where she would actually encounter some out of her mind. She was never good with words around situations like that, and being a siren and thus the easy key to fast fame and wealth wasn't helping.

“Yer would make a great time, those other guys and you. They're a bunch of maniacs, but a funny bunch! Isn't that what you vault hunters do, collaborating?”

“Of course they are, hunting for the Vaults isn't an everyday objective after all. Depends on how much they want to snuff out their competition”, she mumbled. 

“Good ol' manners don't take effect in times of war, eh! That's it missy, we're there!”, Marcus laughed, swinging around the steering wheel. Maya clamped to the arm rest of the bench for the rest of the drive, thanking whatever god let her arrive safely as she hopped off the bus.

The space shuttle was docked to the little shed of a station, a cluttered, old shed that looked like it wouldn't hold up against many more of Pandora's nightly sand storms. The ferry was towering above it it's low roof, making it look even smaller. It did it's job though – the scurf was packed with travellers, masses streaming towards the ship that swallowed them like a skag it's noonly meal. Hunting the vault was apparently an objective more coveted than she had assumed. What's there to it anyway – bloody-minded bandits that try to eliminate every rival, lurid creatures that wait around every corner to rip your entrails out – an inviting thought. One hand at her belt, fingers hovering over the repeater in her colt as she let the crowd carry her towards the entrance of the ship, Maya sighed; good thing she had stopped questioning her own decisions a long time ago, depositing it when she walked out of the gates of Sanctuary that night, months ago, and into her journey as the lone voyager she had always bounded to be. Looking around at those faces, cloaked and gloomy expressions of those numerous travellers that quickly dissolved having passed the entrance arch, told her that she wasn't a single case.

A loner - that planed inescapably made you one sooner or later. Pandora made things with you unable to foretell or prevent. Pandora changed your every view and conscience you ever thought to have achieved in life. And sometimes, even that bottomless pit of a planet could induce an irony of fate.

Because that was a valid question – who were those people that would give up their goods and chattels, their values and remorse, to approach a journey not many had returned from, and even less had found what they searched for?

The answer was as simple as it was obvious, and the siren couldn't help but feel a smile flicker over her face when familiar voices filtered out of the murmur behind her.

“Dios mío, I would rather walk than take a Hyperion ferry to another planet, goddamnit! That dump can kneel low and suck my hairy balls”

“Chill 'em tits girl, it's just a Hyperion build, at least they knew quality in one aspect. I use Hyperion parts myself”

“That explains a lot / Just yesterday, explosions / Aimed at your allies?”

“Okay okay, that was one time, tiny teeny malfunction, and you-”

“Doom and corruption is the sacrifice for the savoury rapture!!!”

“-yeah man, that's my device! Now get your ass over here, I really gotta pee since we left fuckin' Opportunity”

Call it fate, or call it coincidence.

“Wait a sec and pinch me in my freakin' ass – is that-?!”

“Bless the allmighty meat bicycle, the pretty lady is back!!!”

“I knew it, I knew it!! You owe me twenny bucks, Sal!!”

“Look what the cat dragged in, isn't that our girl. Told ya yer wouldn't get rid of us!”

Her little smile turned into a wide grin.

“Missed me, guys?”

***

 

A slight ruttle all around them underlined the ambiance, though since their exit from Pandora's atmosphere, it had significantly calmed down. The little group had settled in one of the storage sections, draping their belongings around the luggage and boxes.

“Would you kindly fork out the money Sal, I'm this close to that new precious, sexy Maliwan rocket launcher – “ Gaige gesutred exitedly, nudging the gunzerker into his ribcage, ”-five rounds and an incineration percentage or ninety – Niiinety, Sal, would ya believe-” 

“Sorry to disappoint ya, but I spent all my cash on ammo”, he retained with a shrug.

“How did you know I would end up here anyways, I mean you did a bet on it?”, Maya interfered with a blank expression, eyeing them both demandingly.

“We chatted with Marcus on our way here, said he already brought someone here this mornin' – really calm, blue hair, kinda cold stare – no doubt.”, Salvador explained with a grin.

“Thanks”, she scoffed; she couldn't lie, she had somehow missed those little quips. Her gaze wandered around their little group, and it only occurred to her now how much she had missed all of this actually. A life full of lies taught you how to lie to yourself best after all.

And that was also what she did about who she had missed the most.

“So, you all seem to have had a pretty good time...”, the siren added, hesitating before continuing. “Did you all stay together? What about-...” Her words died out on the last bit.

Salvador turned into her direction again, with an expression on his face the siren didn't like at all. “Axton? Didn't make it”, he said with another shrug that endured a little longer this time. 

The breath she was taking got stuck in her throat, her stomach gave a slight jerk as his words echoed in her head.

“Sorry to bring ya the bad news”, the gunzerker reckoned.

The siren nodded, slowly, feeling her jaw clench. She pushed herself on her feet, faltering, one hand wandering to her chest, clenching the thin cloth. “I- gotta go to the bathroom”, she pressed out, turning around.  
“Are you okay?”, Zer0's tinny voice pinted in.

“Totally, I just- I gotta get out of here”, Maya uttered, fumbling with the door. She stumbled out on the corridor as it swung open, leaving her teammates behind in the storage. 

Her steps resounded from the steely walls, shoulder brushing against the cold surface as she lost her balance after some meters. Maya closed her eyes, tears burning beneath her lids, unable to grasp a clear thought. Scratch what she had said earlier, about goddamn fate – that was just too good to be true.

The hands that grabbed her by the shoulders were all the clearer. Maya let out a choked yelp, her left hand darting out as she jerked around, ready to phaselock whoever laid a hand on her – looking into a smirk all so familiar.  
“Jesus fucking hell!”, she blurted out.

“Name's Axton, but call me whatever ya like.”, the soldier grinned, hinting a curtsey as he drew back.

“Fuck you!!!”, Maya shouted, her left hand balled up into a fist now, hitting at his shoulder. “They said you didn't make it, what are you doing here?!”

“To the ferry. I was out stockin' up my supplies shortly before we left and they went on without me, must've thought I missed it”, he said with a frown. “Ouch- whoa there, don't be too happy seeing me again after all those months- wait, are you crying-?”

“You freaking asshole!! You scared the living shit out of me!!”, Maya whimpered, throwing hit after hit at his chest. “That's not fucking funny!!”, she groaned as the corners of his mouth curled into his signature smirk.

“That's for leaving me, I'd say”, he taunted, catching one of her wrists in a loose grip as she hauled off again.

“And I'd absolutely do so again, all you ever do is being a pain in the ass all the goddamn time!!”, the siren piped, kicking against his shin instead now.

“What can I- ow, jesus! - do to make you want to stay for all, now?”, Axton laughed, ruffling her hair with his free hand. Maya let out a desperate sigh, nudging into his chest with her shoulder. The impact let them stumble backwards a bit, and she felt his arm wrap around her waist, trying to intercept her, until his back hit the wall.

“Stop being a stupid idiot”, she mumbled, forehead buried in his jacket. He felt his chin brush her temple as he pulled her in a little closer.

“You shaved. What's the occasion?”, Maya scoffed.

“Self-explanatory I'd say.”, he replied, patting her back insinuatingly, his voice as hoarse as ever now that he talked quietly.

“How come everyone knew about our little reunion but me?”, the siren groused.

“Marcus talked about ya”, Axton conveyed. “I should be glad the others didn't cast me out already, since I, uhm, might have annoyed them a little. Wouldn't go on about somethin' else the entire trip after we found out about ya”, he said with a small laugh, merely a throaty huff of air. “But there was a small hope, I gotta admit”

“Idiot”, Maya grunted, nudging her forehead at his jaw, but he only wrapped his other arm around her shoulders now too, pulling her close. She threw her arms around his neck lazily, sinking into the embrace.

“Missed ya too.”, the commando retorted with a chuckle, the tone in his voice a little more serious than intended. “Fuck, I really did. Someone please tell me this isn't a fuckin' dream right now”, he mumbled against the curve of her neck.

The siren’s cheeks burned hot as he did so. “I liked the stubble”, she uttered, letting the fingers of her gloveless hand run through the hair at his neck. “The only good thing about you” 

“Ouch. Guess ya will have to wait 'till I grow some back”, Axton avered, and Maya could hear the smile in his voice. He still did when she drew back a little, only enough for them to exchange a grimace before leaning in again, chapped lips meeting hers.

They headed back with entwined hands, shoulders pressed close to each other's. It was calm - not irritatingly calm, no feeling of anticipation of the next move, just calm. And Maya could get used to that.

Before they got around the corner where the storage room the others where at was located, Axton squeezed her hand lightly. “Hey, M?”

“Yeah?”

“Remember our promise, back at Sanctuary?”

“What promise?” She eyed him with an arched eyebrow.

“How I said we'll have to marry when we're thirty.”

“Oh, that nonsense”, the siren sighed, “Wasn't distinguishing from the usual crap that comes from you.”

“Good thing you didn't exactly say 'No'”, he coaxed, “I'm thirty-one.”

“I know, asshole.” Maya turned away as her cheeks began to feel warm again, rolling her eyes. “You don't even have a ring, do you.”

“Lost one lately, yeah”, he quipped.

“Axton, your failure quota of marriages is one hundred percent.”

“Let's make it fifty then.”, he said with a smirk. Before Maya could add anything, he pushed open the door, and their conversation was drained out by the other's welcoming cheers. 

“Ya made it!” Salvador gave him a slap to the back, at which Axton let out a grunt.

“I'm in utter shock / Commando being on time / Miracle, how come?”, Zer0 taunted; Krieg's laughter echoed from the walls.

“Finally!!”, Gaige chirped, hopping from one foot onto the other. “Allright, allright guys, this is great! Reunion complete! So, how's the plan?”

“We'll figure it out when we get there, will take us a few hours still. Time to do some Vault hunting, just like the old times”, Axton stated, shoving his free hand into his pocket. His self-assured grin froze though, as if he had remembered something. He turned around to her. “...Maya?”

“After you.”, the siren replied, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips as she watched his expression lighten up again. The others gave ovation to that, lapsing into their chit chat about their new destination again. Maya felt the commando's hand close firmer around hers gently.

“That damn issue. I'm so glad this shit is over”, Axton sighed, lowering his voice.

“You bet. And hey”, she said with a smile, leaning in to press a kiss onto his cheek. “The answer is yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ship has a firm place deep in my heart.  
> As for my favorite Lieutenant, you too ♥  
> That (first) fanfiction was a wild ride from start to finish for me, and it's definitely not my last one. Until then, sail safe! <3


End file.
